The Avatar and the Demon
by RaiderXV
Summary: The story begins right at the end of the battle at the valley of the end. Naruto will be banished from Konoha and travel to visit the world of Aaang. NaruHina AangKata...Warning: Sakura and Sasuke bashing.
1. Chapter 1

The Avatar and the Demon….

Disclaimer I own neither Avatar: The last airbender nor Naruto. The story begins right at the end of the battle at the valley of the end. Warning: Sakura and Sasuke bashing. If you like that great, if not I advise not reading. Real angst in this story. Mature theme over time.

Chapter 1 – The return…

Sasuke collapsed next to Naruto as the rain storm subsided. The pain was too much for him to bear. He had a broken right arm and the curse mark was burning like he had never felt. 'I won but not well enough to make good my escape. Damn you Naruto. Why did you stop me? I need power and can only…' Sasuke thought as he finally passed out from the pain.

Kakashi arrived with Pakun seeing that Naruto on the ground and Sasuke near him. Kakashi noticed a pool of blood forming around Naruto and saw a sight that even had him wondering if Naruto would survive. Naruto had three holes in his jumpsuit.

The jumpsuit was burnt, and on the left chest was a hole and the skin was scarred but healing. There was a hole in the center of his chest that was open but it was closing, the rain had pooled the blood and it was running down his side to the ground. The third hole was on the right abdomen, the skin was scarred and discolored.

'It looks like the Kyuubi is working overtime. Good work Naruto, mission successful. Now to get both of you back to Konoha.' "Kage Bunshin" Kakashi says as a clone of himself appears and picks up Sasuke after tieing him up. Kakashi bandages Naruto's chest wound as best as he can. He then grabs him and heads back to Konoha.

Kakashi and his clone were carrying Sasuke and Naruto on their backs. After a few minutes of travel from the valley of the end he met up with an advanced medical unit. "Kakashi, what is the status of Uzumaki Naruto?" One of the medics asked.

"He is severely injured but should be ok for the trip back. Sasuke is similarly injured but not as bad. Both should be able to handle transport back to the village. Can one of you take Sasuke, as my clone will not last that much longer? And what is the status of the others?" Kakashi asked.

One of the other medics took Sasuke off the clones back and the clone dissipated, with the transfer they continued back to the village. "Lady Hokage dispatched the first through fourth quick medical response teams. The others are as follows, Nara has minor injuries, Inuzuka is worse off but in no danger. Akamichi and Hyuga are both in critical conditions and could go either way." The medic answered.

The rest of the trip was quiet as Naruto fell into unconsciousness. The next thing he knew he woke up smelling the anti-septic smell of the hospital, the one place he always hated. Opening his eyes he saw the blurry room, as it came into focus he saw Shikamaru sitting on his bed fiddling with his fingers, while one of them was in a brace as if were broken and himself covered in bandages. Shikamaru turned to Naruto as he noticed movement. "Finally awake?"

"Yak…" Naruto croaked his mouth dry. "Yeah, I am awake. How is everyone else?"

"Well everyone will live. Choji and Neji got really beat up. I hear you took the worst of all of us but you are the first of the ones in critical condition to wake up." Shikamaru replied.

"I am glad to hear we all made it back alive. So we got him back, right?" Naruto said with a sad look on his face as Shikamaru nodded.

The door opened and Sakura walked in with a blank look on her face. Naruto immediately had a smile on his face. "Sakura-chan! I was able to bring him back, just like I promised. Isn't that great?"

Sakura's face contorted and turned to anger. "How could you have done that to him? He is still unconscious! He has a broken arm and several other injuries! So the answer is no! You did not fulfill your promise! You brought back a near corpse! If he ever recovers he will not be the same Sasuke-kun. I hate you! You are a liar! I hate you! You are just a demon-brat like my mother told me, and you are useless!"

The door slams open as Hinata ran into the room. "Sakura-san! How dare you yell at Naruto-kun like that? He promised to bring Sasuke-san back, and he did. Have you taken a look at Naruto-kun? He has more bandages than Sasuke! He put all his effort into bringing back Sasuke, and all you can do is tell him that he did not do enough? How dare you! Naruto-kun made you a promise and I am sure he did everything he could to not hurt your precious Sasuke, but from the looks of it Sasuke fought to not be taken back!" Tsunade and Shizune walked in as Hinata was yelling at Sakura.

"Shut up demon lover! We all know you love Naruto! So just shut up! He hurt my Sasuke-kun! I will never forgive him for that! How can Sasuke-kun ever come back from the beating he received from Naruto-baka?" Sakura yelled.

Tsunade was getting very angry and was looking at Naruto who was totally confused at this point. "Haruno Sakura! You will immediately quiet down! This is a hospital and there are sick and injured trying recuperate. First Naruto went after Sasuke on orders. Second Sasuke was considered a missing nin at that point so any means of bringing him back was acceptable. Third he injured Sasuke in self defense as far as I am concerned unless Naruto has learned to use fire jutsu and chidori. Forth why are you calling him demon? I am waiting Haruno!" Looking at Hinata and smiling kindly, "Are you are in love with my little brother, Naruto-kun?" A large smile crossed Tsunade's face, while Hinata's turned bright red. She turned back to Sakura "I am waiting for an answer Haruno Sakura?"

"My mother says he is a demon, and the way he is able to wield that evil red chakra, he must be a demon." Sakura said with venom in her voice.

"That curse mark on Sasuke is more evil than Naruto's red chakra." Tsunade replied, but was interrupted from continuing.

"Naruto is not evil! He might have pulled pranks but he never hurt anyone with them!" Hinata pleaded.

"Sakura-san, enough! You were not on the mission! You were specifically excluded because you had already tried to stop him from leaving and failed. I was the leader of the mission and I had five others that went with me. One troublesome one was not invited but came anyways. From what Lee-san told 

me Sasuke-san walked off while Naruto-san was fighting someone and taunted Naruto into following him with the intention of either beating him or killing him. So Naruto fulfilled the mission and the promise. You begged for him to do it, so you have no place to criticize how he did it. I know you love the jerk but he did run from the village with known enemies. We have seven injured shinobi including four genin, two jonin and one chunin, myself. I got away with the lightest injuries. And I am not including Lee-san because he was already injured, but that would make eight if you include him. We had to fight five sound ninja of jonin level and Sasuke himself. So if he was not running to Orochimaru then where was he going? And why was he fighting to not come back?" Shikamaru asked.

"I know that Naruto was driving him crazy and he just wanted to prove that Naruto was weaker than himself after all." Sakura said with a smug smile.

"Sakura, I tried to talk to him. I really tried, but he would not listen." Most everyone noticed he was not using chan when speaking to her.

"Shut up Naruto! Why would he listen to you?" Sakura retorted.

"Why did you beg me to go after him then? You said I was the only one that could reach him. Why did you say that? Also Shikamaru told you we might have to use force. Did you forget that?" Naruto asked angrily.

"I wasn't thinking right and you always started fights with him! You think you could have talked nicely to him and persuaded him to come back? No! I bet you taunted him and yelled at him to fight you." Sakura said nearly in tears.

"What are you talking about? I thought of him like a brother and I was also on a mission to get him back. I tried to talk to him and all he did was laugh at me and taunt me. He said he was going to Orochimaru for power. I tried to talk him into coming back and he attacked me, so I attacked back. I held back so as not to kill the teme. Hell I thought of him as a brother. Did you know he drove a chidori through my right lung? Did you?" Naruto asked yelling at Sakura and starting to cough up blood. The two things together caused Hinata to feint and Tsunade to run up to Naruto. She checked his vitals.

"Haruno Sakura you are here by ordered to leave! I will see you in my office later to discuss your conduct in this room. Shizune please put Hinata up on the other bed while I heal Naruto he reinjured his lung from yelling at Sakura." Tsunade ordered as her hand was covered in green healing chakra, she then moved it over his injured chest. His chest appeared to almost be fully healed a slight scar was evident on his chest where new skin has covered over the hole that was blasted in his chest.

"Ok Naruto I would like you to quietly go over what happened at the valley of the End with us so that we know what happened." Tsunade lightly ordered.

Naruto took the next hour recounting in very vivid detail what happened. He also included when the Kyubi chakra enveloped him after a pile driver attack that should have broken his neck. He talked about how Sasuke wanted to break the bond of friendship that he and Naruto had so that he could attain power. Hinata had awakened early in the retelling and was shocked and surprised that Naruto was the 

container of the Kyubi. After he finished the tale about the valley of the End he explained how he was the child who the Forth Hokage had used to seal away the Kyubi as he could not kill it. Hinata upon hearing this broke down in tears and walked over and hugged Naruto wishing she had done it sooner.

Naruto was dumbstruck by her gesture. He did not know what to do or how to react. Shikamaru of course had to put his troublesome comments in. "That does help in figuring out why things have been the way that they have. For a friend you are so troublesome."

Hinata still holding Naruto, "How so?"

"Well he is hated by most if not all of the older generation, they chase and beat him, exclude him from stores and the like. And that hatred is passed down through the children by them not wanting to associate with him. I am impressed you did not become like that Gaara guy was before you beat him after the chunin exams. Your insane amount of chakra, fast healing, and insane stamina, those can be either attributed to either the Kyubi or a new Kekkei Genkai. Hey with the Kyubi you got a tie with Sasuke, you should have been able to wipe the floor with him without that curse mark he has." Shikamaru's statement was more a questioned than anything else.

"Well we fought that fat guy, then we got into several other fights, then I fought that bone guy, and finally I fought Sasuke. He used his curse seal to… what did he say? A second level or something like that. He changed, he even grew wings. And his skin turned black then gray his hair grew and turned gray also. I kept on fighting him to a standstill even after he hit me with a chidori in the right lung. He was aiming for my heart but I was able to shift the target. Baa-chan he was trying to kill me and it was all for power. He acknowledged our friendship but wanted to end it."

Naruto started to cry, Hinata was attempting to soothe him by holding him close and brushing his hair with her hand. "All I wanted to do was to bring him back and make Sakura happy. I did what I promised but she now hates me even more than before. I am happy to know that Hinata loves me." Looking up at Hinata now, "I know now how much a fool I have been for not noticing you before. I am sorry."

Hinata smiled cradling his head, "It is alright Naruto-kun. You noticed now and that is what I wanted. I am sorry that Sakura was so mean to you but I cannot control that, she was also not the right person for you. I have known you from afar for a long time. I have known a lot of your suffering, but I have not known to the extent you have suffered. I will not let you suffer anymore if I can help it because I lo… lov… love you Naruto-kun." The last part came out as whisper but came out much to her relief.

"I also know the difference between your smiles. The real ones and the ones you put on to hide your suffering." Naruto wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her for all he could while he wept into her jacket.

"The only problem we have now is that we have is, its Naruto's word against Sasuke's. It does help Naruto that Sasuke was caught leaving the village. From what I heard from Kakashi both you guys had a fight on top of the hospital before he went rouge. Is that correct Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto turned his head to face Shikamaru not wanting to leave the embrace of someone who cared for him. "Yeah we did. It started as spar but turned into an all out fight. We traded blows but he was better at taijutsu and was decimating my clones."

Naruto paused catching his breath. "He finally hit the roof with a fireball as I got a rasengan going. He got started a chidori and we were headed towards each other. He was falling and I jumped his way being caught up in the moment. Sakura came out, after watching up to that point, yelling for us to stop. But at that point we couldn't stop. Luckily Kakashi arrived and sent us each into a water tower to dissipate our jutsus. I am sorry Hokage-sama I didn't mean to do it." Naruto recounted the story.

"So it was you two that took out the water supply for the hospital? I would give you a pass as he is the one who instigated it, but you both have to pay for repairs." Naruto just nodded to this information. "I thought the damage looked familiar. His had a fist size hole and yours had two holes, one in front about the size of a pen the other out the back side was about two meters wide." This brought a shocked look to Hinata's and Shikamaru's face.

Tsunade turned to leave. "Well Hinata I will leave Naruto in your care, believe me he needs lots of love." She winked at Hinata causing her to blush.

The door opened suddenly with Kakashi entering. "Hokage-sama, the council wants to talk to right away. They do not seem very happy. And member Haruno is very pissed. Do you need me to come along?"

Shaking her head, "No Kakashi I do not need you to accompany me. But come along anyways, I may have a use for you in dealing with Sakura's mother. Shizune I need you too. Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata enjoy your afternoon. I will check on you later." With that Tsunade left the room with Shizune and Kakashi.

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A/N: Fear not I will have chapter 2 up soon more trouble for Naruto to come...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own only the storyline not the character, or the series of Avatar or Naruto

Chapter 2 – Exile or death?

Haruno Baika stood waiting in the council chambers with an angry look on her face as Tsunade entered. "Tsunade-sama you have took long enough to get here. We want a report."

Tsunade was rather taken aback by this informal greeting and demand. "Excuse me Haruno-san? I am Hokage, I got here when I could. I had patients to attend too. As for a report, a report on what? Naruto just woke up today and gave me an informal report."

Baika sat down, "My apologizes Hokage-sama, we just want to know what is going on with Uchiha-san and the others in the rescue."

Tsunade cleared her throat. "As it stands now Sasuke walked away from the retrieval team, and proceeded to try to join forces with Orochimaru. He was in the presence of Konoha ninja and failed to render assistance. He admitted to wanting to leave." This brought gasps and yells from the council.

"How dare you accuse Uchiha-sama of trying to defect to the Sound village?" Baika yelled questioningly.

"I dare because he can bring his curse seal to its second level. That can only be done with certain drugs and putting the person in stasis for a little while. And the reason I know this is because I have seen most of Orochimaru's notes from before he left. He also attacked a fellow leaf ninja, and a teammate too boot. Sasuke was leaving to obtain power from Orochimaru. There is no denying it. He is only obsessed with gaining power so that he can kill his brother Itachi. I understand that the council wants to keep the sharingan in the village. But what will happen when you let him loose and he runs again?" Tsunade questions the council.

Danzo spoke up this time. "He will not leave. He will be trained with everything this village has to offer him. He will not leave because we will offer too much for him to leave."

Tsunade shook her head. "What if that is not enough? Will you start giving him jutsu from the scroll of sealing? How about family jutsu are they out of bounds or are the on the table too? And if that is not enough are you also going to offer up all the eligible females in the village to try to produce more Uchiha?"

Hiashi stood up at this point. "I will not have my daughter used as a breeding slave for recreating the lost cause that is the Uchiha. If the council tries this I will marry her off to Uzumaki Naruto. He at least is dependable and has done more for this village. He even with what this village has put him through has not attacked any of its people. He has also helped out my family so much so that the Hyuga clan will stand by him."

Baika stood up immediately "Your daughter is a loser and should be honored for a chance to sire an Uchiha. Now as for the demon he has attacked at several citizens and even some shinobi. He has also stolen from shops and been allowed to pass when he was shown that he was not fit to be a shinobi."

"If you are referring to Mizuke, he was a traitor, and Sasuke, who is also a traitor, then your argument for attacking shinobi is mute. And I have yet to see any attacks on civilians come across my desk. As for not being a competent shinobi, I think that is total bullshit! He has been able to succeed when the odds were stacked against him. His instructors would purposely hinder his efforts to learn, with only one exception. When dealing with other shinobi his age he has been able to change the hearts of most of them including Hyuga Neji. Most of the shinobi appreciate and think kindly of Naruto. He may lack leadership skills but he is at least a good shinobi unlike your daughter." Tsunade answered the accusations while her temper was starting to flare.

"I call for a vote of having Haruno Sakura, Yaminaka Ino and Hyuga Hinata to be betrothed to Uchiha Sasuke to bring back his clan. All those in favor?" Koharu asked, getting fifteen of the twenty members to vote in favor. "Against?" There were five against including Tsunade and Hiashi. "Motion passes by majority. The betrothals will go into effect as of tomorrow."

Hiashi and Tsunade were both incensed "What you cannot do this!" Both yelled at the same time.

Koharu with a smirk on her face. "Now take a vote for the punishment of Uzumaki Naruto."

"Stop this farce now! I am Hokage and you cannot punish Naruto for doing a mission that he was assigned and one he even succeeded in completing! The retrieval team was able to defeat five sound ninja of jonin level, while two of our best jonin were severely injured against the same opponents!" Tsunade yelled at the council.

"All those in favor of execution?" Koharu continued unfazed by Tsunade's outburst. This time only getting three in favor including Haruno Baika and Danzo. "And now in favor of banishment?" This only got fourteen out of twenty losing the Inuzuka vote. "Motion carried. Uzumaki Naruto will be banished from Konoha in one week's time, not to set foot in the village again, under penalty of death."

Tsunade slumped in her chair and started to weep. A strong hand touched her shoulder. She looked up to see Hiashi. "I have a couple ideas that might mitigate this some. But we need to hurry, and we need to stop by your office next to pick up some paperwork." Whispering so only Tsunade could hear. "I want to try to thank the hero of Konoha and make things better. Also I will not reward an Uchiha traitor. But we must hurry."

Tsunade nodded as she got up and followed Hiashi from the council chamber to her office. They met Shizune along the way and Hiashi quietly asked her for several papers. Shizune looked confused but nodded and headed off for the correct paperwork. "Okay Hiashi what is your plan?" Tsunade asked.

"We need to get to the hospital and have an ANBU make sure my daughter is there. I have some good and some bad news for her and Naruto." Hiashi replied with a smile.

Tsunade snapped her fingers and two people showed up instantly wearing their animal masks. "I want you to find and bring Hyuga Hinata to the hospital room of Uzumaki Naruto now!" They left in a swirl of leaves. "Okay now that that is done, let's head to the hospital."

Shizune showed up as they were leaving the Hokage's tower. "I am coming along, as you will need witnesses if I have figured out what you are up too." Tsunade gave Shizune and funny look then smiled at Hiashi.

All three were heading to the hospital when they came across Rock Lee and Tenten. "Lee, Tenten I need you to find Kakashi and Kurenai and bring them to Naruto's hospital room now!" Tsunade ordered. Both answered with a 'Hai' and sped off. They entered the hospital and shooed off several of the nurses as they headed directly to Naruto's room. They burst in on Naruto and Hinata talking. They both looked at the three panting adults with concern on their faces. "Naruto, Hinata we need to talk and we need to talk now." Tsunade spoke with deep concern in her voice.

"What is it baa-chan?" Naruto asked seemingly annoyed at being interrupted while talking to Hinata as he was just starting to understand her.

"Naruto this is not time to joke so be quiet and listen." Naruto got a serious look on his face and then nodded. "We have some good news and some really bad news. You and Hinata also have a choice to make." This caused the two young shinobi to be concerned, but they nodded. "Ok I will start with some of the good news. You will not be executed for hurting Uchiha Sasuke."

"WHAT? What the hell do you mean I will not be executed for hurting that teme? Next you are going to tell me that the council voted to have me banished for hurting the village's precious Uchiha." Naruto spoke in very angrily. He then looked at Tsunade's face which was plastered with concern.

"No, they didn't!" She nodded. "Those temes, after all I have done for this stupid village! They want to punish me for doing what I am told by bringing back said teme Uchiha! What the hell do they want from me? Do they want me to die like most of the village for carrying this blasted fox which I had no choice in carrying?" Tears started to fall from Naruto's eyes. "Why do they do this to me? I have taken their beatings I have protected them from the damn Kyubi. And this is the thanks I get." Hinata stood next to Naruto and wrapped her arms around him letting him sob into her shoulder.

"It gets even better." Hiashi starts to comment. "Including wanting you to be banished they want to give Uchiha Sasuke all the village's jutsu, and marry him off to three kunoichi." Looking at Hinata, "You are one of the ones my daughter. "

A look of terror came across her face as she shook her head from side to side. "Yes my daughter the council is wanting to force you to marry Uchiha Sasuke, along with Haruno Sakura, and Yaminaka Ino. " Tears started to come from Hinata, Naruto squeezed her tighter. To both their surprise Hiashi approached the bed and got down on his knees and bowed.

"Uzumaki Naruto, hero of Konoha, returner of traitors, son of Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage." All present looked at him then at Tsunade. She nodded agreement. "I beg you to do the Hyuga family and me the honor of marrying my daughter Hyuga Hinata. I would be honored to have you as a son-in-law. I would have waited and had you wait until you were older but I would be honored if you would do this before she could no longer see you."

Naruto and Hinata both had 'the deer in the headlights' look.

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A/N: Wait did I stop it there? Silly me... hope you enjoy... More to come...


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar.

I know some of you felt sort of cheated by the last chapter hehe… but what do you think a cliff hanger is? Sorry for being the evil author, but I need to have some fun. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 3 – Exile…

Naruto shook himself out his stupor. "They wanted Hinata-chan to do WHAT!? Marry that teme? And instead you want Hinata and me to marry?" Turning red and looking at Hinata. "I am not sure. What do you think Hinata-chan?"

Tsunade interrupted, "Naruto as your guardian and as Hokage, I will not approve of this if you are against it." She then smiled deeply. "But do you think you will find a nicer young woman that would have you?"

Naruto got an indignant look on his face, it then softened. "I see what you mean baa-chan. She actually cares for me not like that… that… Sakura…" his voice trailed off in anger.

"Hinata, you may accept or reject this offer I propose my daughter. But remember this offer will only be good for today and if you reject it you will have to marry the Uchiha traitor. Also you would not get to see Naruto again." Hiashi said kneeling on the floor.

Naruto got a concerned look in his eye. "Why are you not worried about me being the Kyubi and corrupting your daughter like so many others would?"

"I knew your father Naruto, and in a lot of ways you are like him, but not so in others. I am sorry to hurry this along but we need both of your answers now. The betrothal will come into effect tomorrow, so you will have to marry today if you both accept."Hiashi stood and looked at Naruto.

"Also this way you will have a companion on your journey. As your wife she will be able to leave the village with you and not have to worry about the repercussions of going with you. So what will your answer be?" Hiashi asked as he looked intently at Naruto.

Naruto looked like he was having a brain overload. Which was part of what was going on and having the fox laughing his mind did not help matters much either. As he had finally decided the door burst open with Rock Lee, Tenten, Kurenai, and Kakashi entering the room and closing the door behind them.

"Okay I will do it, if only to keep Hinata-chan happy." Naruto bust out, then looking at Hinata kindly, "Keeping her safe from the council and that Sasuke-teme is an added bonus." Hinata smiled and nodded her agreement emphatically.

Hiashi smiled. "Ok we need you both to fill out these forms, the Hokage and I will have to also sign as we are the legal guardians of you both. Also Naruto we will get some most of the stuff ready for your trip after this is done so that you will have more information dealing with your history and be ready to leave on time. I am sorry this has been rushed. I am also sorry about what the council has done to you both. I hope you will be happy together."

The others had a look of 'WHAT?' plastered on their faces. "Ok what is going on?" Kakashi bluntly asked.

"A wedding, I am glad you stopped by to be witnesses." Hiashi said with a smirk as Shizune giggled.

"Wait what do you mean a wedding? Who is getting married?" Tenten asked.

"Naruto-kun and Hinata-chan are, and they are doing it today." Tsunade answered.

"Why if I may ask are they doing this? I know that Lady Hinata has feelings for Uzumaki-san but he has so far been ignorant to this. So why the sudden change and why does it have to be done today?" Kurenai asked pointedly.

Hiashi took a deep breath. "We just got back from council. They made a few rather hasty decisions. First they are forcing the betrothal of a few kunoichi to Uchiha Sasuke. My daughter is among those on the list. And the betrothals will be effective as of tomorrow. I do not approve of having a traitor or an Uchiha in the family. I appreciate and trust Uzumaki-san, thus I trust him with my daughter. He is a hero and my daughter is smitten with him. I am hoping it will turn into love over time." These revelations shocked the four newcomers. "Second they are banishing Uzumaki-san." This even shocked them more.

"But Naruto-kun helped bring back Sasuke. Why do they want to banish him? He was only doing his duty." Lee asked looking confused.

"The council thought that Naruto used excessive force to return Uchiha Sasuke. They believed that he was not going to defect to the sound and Orochimaru." Hiashi answered.

"I was there Hyuuga-sama and he headed towards the sound border after looking at Kimitaro, then Naruto and myself. He did not look well but he smiled and then walked off saying that he was 'leaving this weakling village behind.' He also taunted Naruto-kun after he left and I stayed to fight. Sasuke had a strange look in his eyes." Lee stated as he recalled the memory of when he had caught up with Naruto.

Lee begins to smile while looking at Hinata and Naruto. "That is the power of youth! I am happy to hear you are getting married but are you not a little young for this Naruto-kun?"

Tenten just smiled and shook her head. "Lee, if they do not marry today then Hinata will have to marry Uchiha Sasuke. Can't you see that she would prefer Naruto?"

"Shizune is the paperwork in order?" Tsunade asked. Shizune nodded after going over the paperwork twice. "Okay I am going to dispense with most of the pleasantries. Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto do you take Hyuuga Hinata as your lawful wife?" Tsunade asked with all seriousness.

Naruto got a serious look on his face. "Yes Hokage-sama."

"Hyuuga Hinata do you take Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto as your lawful husband?" Tsunade asked a quickly blushing Hinata.

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Yes I do so very much so." Squeezing Naruto even harder.

"As your Hokage I pronounce you husband and wife. Naruto you may kiss the bride." Tsunade bent down and smiled at Naruto with a devilish grin, this caused him to turn bright red.

He started to understand why Hinata blushed so much. His heart was racing as he raised his head towards Hinata. She lowered her head towards his bright red face. Both were beet red. As their lips connected they both closed their eyes and there was an explosion of sensations. The soft kiss seemed to last for hours, they felt the warmth of the other's lips and the softness of their touch. Neither wanted it end. Naruto because he was getting what he always wanted someone special that would not go away. Hinata because her dream of marrying Naruto had come true, if a little forced.

A round of clapping broke them out of the spell they were under. They both looked around and promptly passed out. Naruto back on his pillow with Hinata draped over his chest. This caused the group to laugh at the newly married couple.

Hiashi spoke up, "Now that that is done. I have a request for you Kurenai." She nodded. "I would like you to help Hinata to learn a genjutsu on her eyes to hide them. I would like you to teach it to her as she will only have a week before she will be leaving the village. Also I need you to assemble as many copies of jutsu as you can so we can send them off with them, so that they can train while they are gone to protect themselves."

Hiashi continues, "I am sure we will not be able to accompany them I am sure they will forbid anyone who is not a relative from joining Naruto. Thus being his wife Hinata can travel with him. He is adequately strong to protect my daughter. We should also get them some new clothes so that they can disguise themselves after they leave."

"How long will the newlyweds be away Hiashi-sama?" Kurenai asked.

"According to most laws the minimum time for banishment is three years. But that is for the Hokage and the council to decide." Shizune answered.

"I am guessing that you needed us as witnesses for the marriage and to help assemble jutsu for them for their trip is that correct Hokage-sama?" Kakashi inquired.

"You are correct Kakashi. I will want this information stored on scrolls and we need to assemble some money for them so they will be able to travel. We also need to find some new clothes for both of them so that they do not stand out so much. Thus the reason for the genjutsu to hide her eyes and his whisker marks." Looking at the sleeping teens, "They make a cute couple don't they?" The others nod. "Ok Lee and Tenten, no one gets in here and no one is to know about the marriage. Is that understood?"

Lee responds with a 'Yosh!' and salutes, while Tenten just nods and says 'Hai!' Tsunade grabs Hinata puts her draped body on the bed with Naruto so that she does not fall if her grip slips off Naruto.

Lee and Tenten waited outside of the room. "Tenten, where will they go? I do not understand why they want Naruto to leave. He is a good ninja, he tries hard, and he even beat Neji. What will happen now when he is gone?"

Tenten had a sad look on her face, "I am not sure Lee. He was a big help in getting my family's business back up and profitable. My guess is that it will be quiet with him gone. I for one will be very sad to see him gone. I hope they will be happy together."

"They have the power of youth. And they do seem happy together. I know Naruto was dead last as I was in my class but he has come so far. I think he will return in a few years stronger than he is now." Lee commented.

Both Lee and Tenten noticed a pink haired woman approaching them. She reached for the door but was intercepted by Tenten. "How dare you stop me? Who do you think you are?"

"We are genin under orders not to let anyone into this room by the Hokage." Lee answered.

"Well you can let me in I am a council member, Haruno Baika. Also my daughter is a teammate of Uzumaki Naruto." Baika said as she tried to smile.

"I am sorry council member Haruno but our orders were specific. We cannot let you in. We are sorry. But you can take it up with the Hokage if you like." Tenten said politely.

"I am here to inform the demo… I mean Naruto of the council's decision we came to regarding him." Baika said rather plainly.

"He was already informed of the decision. Also, as I heard Haruno-sama, you and shall I quote asked 'for the death of the demon'. So why would you want to go into his room when you obviously do not like him? Were you trying to circumvent the council and kill Naruto when he is in a weakened condition?" Shikamaru asked from behind Baika.

"How dare you take that tone with me Nara! Your father will hear about this." Baika said as he turned and left in a huff.

"Troublesome woman." Shikamaru commented while shaking his head. "So how are they doing? Did the ceremony go well? Naruto didn't screw it up did he?"

Tenten giggled. "Naruto agreed and was a good boy and promptly passed out after the completion, more from embarrassment than anything. They are sleeping soundly right now. The Hokage told us to not let anyone in until she and the other sensei return."

"Fine with me. Would you guys like some company while you wait? I am sorry to see my friends leave. I wish there was more I could do for them." Shikamaru said sadly.

"You may remain as you are a friend and we trust you. So what do you know about the situation Shikamaru?" Lee asked

"Well it is very troublesome. The council has made a couple rulings. One, Sasuke Uchiha is to be betrothed to three kunoichi, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata. I am hoping Hiashi found a loophole for that one." Tenten nodded her head.

"Good I hope they make a happy couple. Two they voted on executing Naruto." Both Lee and Tenten cringed at this.

"They voted that down but did agree to banish him under penalty of death. I am figuring that Hiashi noticed that Hinata liked Naruto and asked him to marry Hinata." Lee nodded. "So they are married?" Tenten nodded. "How troublesome, but I guess it is better than Sasuke. I am pretty sure that Danzo will try to kill Naruto when he leaves so that he will not come back. We cannot let that happen. He has seen too much to be thrown away like garbage. Like that Sasuke jerk is."

"What do you mean?" Lee asks but Tenten appears to be thinking the same thing.

"Well Sasuke, hit Naruto with a couple of his Chidori attacks, pile drove him at least into a hard rock surface and attacked him with a strong flame jutsu. If it was anyone other than Naruto, they would be dead right now and Sasuke would be in Orochimaru's hands. The council wants Sasuke to bring the Uchiha back, and will go to about any length to achieve it. I bet if say Naruto were the gifted one they wouldn't think twice about sentencing Sasuke to death for betraying the village." Shikamaru said showing his anger for once.

"No they offer him forced marriage to a girl who does not even like him, hell she loves the dope inside that room. And Sasuke is the idiot that put him there. They offer him all the jutsu the village can offer, and kick out the person Hinata cares about and someone who actually cares about the village. Troublesome."

A/N: Well I am hoping you guys are liking the Haruno family… just kidding. More fun from the council to come… And a quote from the lovable god Sasuke from next chapter:

Sasuke smirked and then finally spoke, "You see you were always a loser and the Kyubi is the only thing that makes you special. Hinata you missed out on being something special, the mother of a new breed of Uchiha. Where the blood lines of the Uchiha and the Hyuuga would have merged back under the watchful eye of the Uchiha."

Him arrogant? Nah… Hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar.

Hope you enjoy the chapter…

Chapter 4 – Time to leave…

During the week that was the grace period for Naruto to get ready for his exile, his apartment was cleaned, by his friends, and then burned by angry villagers. The council was pissed at Hiashi and Tsunade for marrying Hinata and Naruto. They tried to have the marriage annulled but were not able to do so. Since they could not do that Naruto was given five years exile as punishment for Tsunade, Hiashi, and the Uzumaki couple.

Sasuke also woke up about two days after the wedding. He was very angry that he was not either dead or with Orochimaru. Sasuke accepted the gifts from the village including the betrothals.

Ino was less than pleased after hearing what Sasuke had done and what the council did to him and Naruto. She approached Naruto the day Sasuke woke up and accepted the betrothals.

"Naruto, could I talk to you?" Ino asked Naruto in his hospital room with Hinata present.

"Sure Ino-chan. What can I do for you?" Naruto asked happily.

Ino walked up to Naruto and grabbed his free hand. "Will you marry me?"

To say that Naruto and Hinata were shocked would be an understatement. After a couple minutes Naruto looked at Ino and just said, "Why?"

"Because you are a nice guy and Sasuke is a jerk, I would rather marry a guy who would be nice to me instead of one that thought of me as a trophy." Ino blurted out. "I know I have not been the nicest to you Naruto but I don't feel that Sasuke would be a good husband, even though he was the most desired male up until now."

"What about your eternal struggle with Sakura?" Naruto asked bluntly.

Ino shook her head and waved her hand as if she didn't care. "What struggle? If we both marry him then the contest is a tie. I don't want to be fighting with her for his limited time, as all he thinks about is getting stronger and killing Itachi. Where does that leave time for romance?" Ino asked with stars in her eyes.

"Romance? Wouldn't me marrying you spoil the romance with Hinata-chan? I would then have to split my time between the two of you. As I told Hinata-chan I don't know what love is, as Sakura destroyed what little I thought love was. I know I had a crush on her now. I am just hoping I can find a way to achieve what Hinata-chan feels for me, in what I will eventually feel for her. I am sorry Ino-chan but I can't accept your proposal." He lifted a hand to forestall an argument.

"One, I know Hinata-chan cares for me, you just want out of a marriage that you did not have anything in setting up, for that I am sorry. Second, as I said I was alone most of my life and only have limited 

understanding of what love is. I do like Hinata-chan and want understand what the emotions I am feeling. I can't help you in escaping your problem, but I might have an idea." Naruto got a huge foxy grin on his face.

"Why don't you ask Baa-chan to send you to Suna? You could possibly hook up with Gaara, he needs love too. And I would be a good for the village relations with Suna." Naruto smiled as Hinata hugged Naruto.

"Wasn't Gaara the one who liked to kill people? And Sasuke beat outside of the village." Ino questioned.

Naruto laughed. "Sasuke hurt Gaara but only managed to piss him off. Had Sakura and I showed up he would be dead now." Naruto winced at the thought of how he risked his live to save the ungrateful Sakura.

"I know that you are mad at Sakura..." Ino started to say but was interrupted.

"Mad! Mad! Naruto was nearly killed by Sasuke, and Sakura complains that he came back with minor wounds and chakra depletion. Naruto risked his life and beat Gaara for the sake of both of them but mostly Sakura. Do you know the extent of Naruto-kun's abilities?" Hinata shot back at Ino.

"Well he can do the shadow clone jutsu, and not much else." Ino stated as if it was fact.

"Naruto-kun can do shadow clone jutsu, a jonin rank jutsu and do it to a level that not even Kages can. He can do the Rasengan, another jonin rank jutsu. How many jonin rank jutsu can you do?" Hinata asked.

"Well… none, I know that Sasuke can do the Chidori, a high level chunin jutsu." Ino replied.

"You still have feeling for Sasuke by what you did just now. You did not really answer my question, instead you compared Naruto-kun to Sasuke the person who put Naruto-kun here. Did you know that Sasuke tried to kill him with three Chidoris in the chest? Naruto barely survived this, and now the council wants to banish him for doing what he was told to do." Hinata said as she started to cry.

Naruto hugged her closer. "You see Ino, I don't want to be a second choice and I don't want to hurt you when you find out that you are not in love with me and are only escaping from what you don't want. Also I would not feel right in holding saving you over your head. I would not but you would feel that I was and that is not what I want. I need genuine feelings. Hinata has them and I want to know what they truly are. I say that Gaara might be some help. He grew up a lot like me and he will need a lot of love."

"Worst case you could have your father fight against it." Hinata said bluntly as her tears slowed. "I love Naruto-kun and have for a long time. It was a crush a long time ago but I did not fawn over him. I learned from him and finally came to his aid when he needed it. I know what his life was like when he was a child. Sure Sasuke had a hard life. But nowhere near as hard a Naruto-kun. Naruto-kun had to fight most of his life to get to where he is now. He worked hard for it and he deserves so much more than he was given."

"I know everyone picked on him but how bad could it have been?" Ino asked.

"Bad, really bad Ino, so bad you don't want to know." Naruto stated.

"We of the clans have family, Naruto had none. He was shunned and still is. Go ahead and henge into Naruto-kun and try to go into most stores. Most will chase you out with a weapon. And no that is not because of his prankster ways. Most villagers either hate or despise him for a reason I can to tell you. I am sorry Ino but I would not want you as a second wife for Naruto-kun as it would confuse him, and Kami knows that he doesn't need more confusion."

"Okay Hinata you win. I am not ready to get married anyways. But Naruto-kun, I will take your advice and take a look at Gaara. Maybe I can get the Hokage to send my team there." Ino said as her eyes looked far away.

"Ino I would watch out for his sister, Temari I think her name is. She will be quite protective of him." Naruto added as Ino walked out the door.

In a room in the secure ward of the Hospital Sasuke was contemplating what had happened. He found it funny that the village was going to give him all the jutsu and also all the training he wanted. He was mildly amused that he was given Sakura, Ino, and Hinata as wives to be. He found out that Hinata was no longer on the market and that did bother him a she had a bloodline that might help out any children they could have had. Sasuke was very annoyed with Naruto for having gotten married 'Who would want that monster?' His thought would be that or of a similar bent. He also thought Hinata was a loser just like her husband.

Hinata during the week did well in learning several genjutsu that Kurenai had taught her and she was able to mask both her and Naruto's appearance with one of the low level genjutsu she had learned. Both Hinata and Naruto started to learn about chakra affinity. Jiraiya told then to meet him at a certain village in three weeks so that he could help them work on learning how to use chakra affinity and jutsu that used those types of elemental chakra.

Money, clothing, scroll with jutsu, scrolls with instructions on them, and food were sealed into a few scrolls for the both of them for their trip. Also blank scrolls and writing utensils for any new jutsu they would create on their journey.

Also the marriage of Naruto and Hinata was leaked by Sakura and her mother to the general public and they were livid. Causing Naruto to have to stay at the Hyuuga compound where he was well received.

Neji seemed to be leading an anti-Sasuke group that was composed of Hyuuga clan member and several villagers that did not like Sasuke for some reason. Not that there was any love lost between the two clans but the attempt of the council to force Hinata to marry Sasuke nearly started a civil war in Konoha. Thus the council and the villagers let them be after Hiashi and Tsunade announced that the Hyuuga and the Hokage would leave the village if they did not leave Naruto and Hinata alone.

As if they wanted revenge the Konoha council brought up for a vote to have Hinata exiled too but on a different date and that she could not meet up with Naruto while in the fire country. When the fire lord got wind of this he nearly disbanded the council. The only information that reached him was that a married couple was going to be separated by the council so he did not intervene in the exile.

Naruto and Hinata saw Sasuke and Sakura as they were heading to the gates to leave the village. Sakura attempted to attack Naruto, but was blocked by Hinata who used a juken attack on her sending her to the ground. Neji, Hiashi, Rock Lee, and Tenten were walking with Naruto and Hinata. Everyone laughed at Sakura's failure to get to Naruto.

Sasuke smirked and then finally spoke, "You see you were always a loser and the Kyubi is the only thing that makes you special." Sasuke then looked at Hinata. "Hinata you missed out on being something special, the mother of a new breed of Uchiha. Where the blood lines of the two great houses would have merged back under the watchful eye of the Uchiha."

Hinata looked at him with disgust, "If I were to be your wife your last night would be the one you slept with me. You are tainted. You hurt the one who is most precious to me and I would never make you happy, I would kill you at my first chance. I hope the pink mop makes you happy. For I am happy with my choice of husband, he will be faithful. You may end up married to them but the only ones that love you are Sakura and yourself. You don't even love them, do you?" Sasuke shrugged as Sakura stood up.

"I will get you Hinata for that, and I will bear Sasuke-kun many children, they will be strong Uchiha children." Sakura retorted with as much venom as she could put in her voice.

"That is funny as you will have to continue to compete with Ino for his affection, which is none, and his time which you will get little of as he is so focused on getting his revenge, I think that you will lose your battle to have children for him having his revenge. " Neji commented with a smirk.

"Naruto-sama is at least a good man and will treat Hinata well. He will give her his attention and not spurn her as you did Naruto's. You do not deserve someone as special as Naruto. Yes he maybe the container of the Kyubi but he is not the Kyubi." Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Otherwise you both would already be dead. None of the Uchiha that fought the Kyubi survived the encounter. Thus it is unlikely that you would have survived if you had fought the Kyubi instead of Naruto. He may have enhancement from the creature but he is not the creature. Understand this, neither of you will be trusted by the Hyuuga, especially what you have done to Naruto-sama." Naruto smiled at what Neji was saying.

"Arigato, Neji niisan." Hinata smiled that Naruto-kun had called Neji niisan.

"Any time Naruto-sama. The Uchiha are considered traitors by the Hyuuga. Until the taint of Sasuke is removed it shall be so." Neji replied.

"Well, we must leave from where we are not needed. Oh by the way Sasuke-teme, I have two things to tell you." A huge grin came across Naruto's face winking at Hinata. "One, I'm not sure Ino will actually marry you, she did ask to marry me."

Naruto started to laugh. "Second, you just broke the Third's law about revealing the existence of the Kyubi being sealed in me. Tenten and Lee did not know and I will be sure to have fun with letting the Hokage know that you broke the law. Better hurry and breed or you will lose your chance to be a father and rebuild your clan, let alone kill Itachi." Naruto chortled as they continued to the front gate. Hinata giggled as Naruto's jab at Sasuke.

Naruto, Hinata, Hiashi, Neji, Lee, and Tenten were greeted by the council, the Hokage, Kakashi, the remainder of team 8, the remainder of team Gai, and team 10. Naruto got to the gate smiling at the council. "Greetings esteemed members of the Konoha council, Hokage-sama. I am nearly prepared to begin my exile with my new wife."

Tsunade looked at Naruto thinking 'What are you up to otouto?' "I am sorry to see you go Naruto-kun. I wish you happiness with your new wife and that you train hard while you are away."

Naruto bowed, "Thank you Hokage-sama I will endeavor to return, and up to your expectations. I would also like to report the breaking of the Hokage's law regarding me and my prisoner." Tsunade looked surprised, but nodded, as the council looked shocked.

"I have to report the Uchiha Sasuke revealed my secret to Rock Lee-san and Tenten-chan. I have as witnesses the two mentioned, Hinata-chan, Hiashi-sama, and Neji nii-san. As I am leaving but not in disgrace, I Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto and wife Hyuuga Uzumaki Hinata are taking our leave of the village and will return after five years as ordered."

Naruto bowed and then hugged Tsunade whispering, "Good luck baa-chan, I am sorry I have to go but I will keep in contact. I will miss you, give the teme hell." Naruto kissed her on the cheek and then bowed again. "Hokage-sama I will miss you and ero-sanin. Please take care of him. Oh we were thinking of visiting Iwa, or even Suna, I will make sure to send them the council's regards."

Baika finally got her voice back, "You are defaming our Fourth Hokage. You are not Namikaze."

Naruto just smiled, Hiashi spoke up, "Let's see, golden locks, check. Mastering his jutsu in record time, check, accomplished at seals, well he is working on that. Also except for the 'cute', as my daughter puts it, whisker marks he looks like a clone of the Fourth." Naruto snickered, "He also was a prankster. His mother though has more dictated his jutsu he has created on his own." Hiashi chuckles at his own comment.

Danzo responds, "The Fourth was never married. This I know and he never had a child, also there were only the occasional passing Uzumaki in the village."

Naruto just continued to laugh lightly. "Yes, he was the son of an Uzumaki and the Fourth. He was protected by using the Uzumaki name so that the Fourth's enemies. We did not want to have lots of 

foreign ninja in Konoha attempting to kill Naruto-san." Hiashi continued. "Uzumaki Kushina, was Naruto's kaa-san. He may want to visit the former Whirlpool country to research his heritage." Naruto nodded understanding.

Baika looked angry, "So his mother is that witch."

Hiashi laughed but did not appear to be happy. "Yes we all know you were chasing Minato. While you were two-faced, she was honest, and quite entertaining. She would pull some of the most outrageous pranks on the village, until her son took her place as the number one prankster. Heaven help us if they had been able to collaborate." He winked at Naruto.

Naruto looked at Neji and smiled. Neji opened his pack and started to hand Naruto packages. "I have a gift for each of the council members." Most shied away from Naruto, who looked at them quizzically. "Are you afraid of something? Do you think I would kill the council for what they have done to me?"

Naruto started to laugh deeply. He then stopped with a fox like grin. "Then I will start with Hiashi-sama if you don't trust me." He handed he first gift to Hiashi.

"Thank you Naruto-kun, I accept your gift." Hiashi took the gift and opened it. The box contained a bracelet with the kanji of ally.

He then presented the gifts to all the other council members. "Enjoy them in good health."

Naruto and Hinata said their goodbyes. Only the fourteen members of the council that voted for exile were not sad to see Naruto leave. Kakashi and Kurenai both left with them saying that they each had a mission to do.

The four other council members, including the Hokage, which voted against exile, also received bracelets with the kanji of ally. The ten that only voted for exile receive bracelets that had the kanji for 'neutral'.

The four that voted for exile received bracelets that said 'teme' and were put under genjutsu that made them look like Oni. They only noticed when villagers ran from them when they were walking through town. Those that received ally bracelets got a laugh and understood what happened.

A/N: I nearly killed off Sasuke because of his arrogance… hehehe… Hope you like the presents to the council…


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah I know what I don't own and so do you… Hehe…

Warning: this is a mushy chapter… Naruto will seem to be a little OC, but remember the previous trauma, and also this is an AU.

Chapter 5 – The adventure begins…

About five miles out Kakashi took Naruto aside, he then checked for pursuit. He then proceeded to have Naruto take his clothes off, they then dyed his hair in a stream to a brown, and then change his clothes. When they got back Hinata and Kurenai came from a similar direction. Hinata now had brown hair also, different clothes and a slightly different hair style. Naruto thought 'She looked cuter with the black hair but she is still cute.' He then blushed at his thoughts. Hinata cast the genjutsu on her eyes and they looked similar to Naruto's. Kakashi then put some makeup on Naruto's face covering up his whisker birthmarks.

"Now Naruto I need a couple henged shadow clones, one of you and one of Hinata. We will take them away to make sure that there is no one following us. So you guys make camp in the woods and keep your chakra suppressed. You should stay in the woods and make your way to one of the villages that are somewhat close by and stay there for a couple days then head in some direction. And no do not tell me. Naruto, I am sorry that I did not spend that much time with you and teach you as I should have. Will you forgive me?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure sensei, but I will be back in five years to kick your ass." Naruto said with a sad smile. Hinata saw this and gave him a hug then held onto his arm as they headed out into the woods.

"Okay Naruto I will see you then." Turning to the clones, "Ok I need one perfect Naruto and one Hinata please?" The clones followed orders. "Ok we will split up in a couple miles then you guys will be on your own. We will keep tabs on you so that we can take care of anyone who might be following you two love birds." This caused the clones to blush. "Good now let's get going."  
The real Naruto and Hinata went a few miles into the woods and found a nice campsite near a stream and set up camp. Naruto had found a nice fishing hole and as able to get a few fish. "Hey Hina-chan" Naruto said with a quiet voice.

Smiling Hinata responded, "Yes Naru-kun."

"Should we come up with some pet names for a little bit so no one will actually know who we are? And how would you like your fish?"

"Sure Naru-kun, what would you like to be called? I am not worried about how the fish is cooked." Hinata answered.

Looking deep in thought, "Actually I have no clue I guess Naru-kun will work for now. We will camp here for a couple nights then head out for a nearby town." Naruto commented.

Hinata giggled then looked down. "Are you angry that we had to get married Naru-kun?"

Naruto looked confused, "Well it was a little sudden, but given what was happening no. I really do like you. I am sorry I don't love you yet."

Stating to look sad himself, "I just don't know what love is. I thought I was in love with Sakura, but she hated me the whole time. You were always around but out of sight. So I guess I do not know what love is."

Seeing Hinata looking very sad, "Come on Hina-chan. That is not to say I will not come to learn what love is, and I am sure you are a great teacher." Naruto gave her light hug which she hugged him and started to cry. "Did I do something wrong Hina-chan?"

Hinata was still crying into his shirt, "No Naru-kun. You are fine. I am just upset that you do not know what love is." She continued to cry. "Naruto-kun, I will try to teach you about love. At least how I understand it too be."

Naruto squeezed her, "Thank you Hinata-chan, I am sure you can help me. And as your husband it will be my job to learn as much as I can."

"Thank you Naru-kun." She lifted her head from his chest and kissed Naruto.

Naruto was not sure what to do so he kissed her back. 'If this is what love is I like it. I don't want it to end.' He thought as he closed his eyes and deepened the kiss causing Hinata to moan a little. They stopped when the smell of the cooking fish brought them back to their senses. "Wow Hina-chan. That was almost as good as the first one. Let's eat dinner and we can do that again." Naruto said excitedly. All Hinata could do was giggle and nod her head as separated from their embrace.

Dinner was quiet until Naruto seemed to be hit by something. Hinata concerned asked, "What is wrong Naru-kun?"

Naruto shaking his head, "I am not sure but I know that Kakashi and Kurenai sensei have taken care of those that were following us."

Hinata looking even more concerned, "How do you know this Naru-kun?"

"I am not sure myself. But Kakashi sensei told my two clones that they should watch as Kurenai sensei did something to a couple of ANBU that they were tailing them. She cast a genjutsu having us fight them and losing. They then thought they burned the bodies. He then told me, my clones I mean, that I will know what is going on from the Bunshin when he dismisses them for me. He then hit them both. And now I know that they can gather information for me. He also said that information acquired from them will return to me as soon as they are dismissed." Naruto told Hinata recounting information that the Bunshin had given him.

"That is amazing Naru-kun. Did you tell them good bye from us?" Hinata asked.

Naruto smiled, "Actually I thanked him and then gave them a hug and a good bye from each of us. They smiled and said good bye. They look forward to seeing us some time later, and to be safe. Also now that some ANBU think we are dead they should leave us alone for awhile if not until we return. How is the fish? I am sorry there are so few herbs here to spice up the fish." Naruto said apologetically.

"It is fine Naru-kun. Thank you for your concern. Now for your first lesson in love." Naruto saw something in her eyes, he was not sure what it was. There was softness but also a longing there and something else he could not place. "First love is a feeling and early on it is a wanting or longing to be near someone you like. This is attraction. I find your smile, your eyes, especially your eyes…"

Naruto noticed her seem to go off into space while looking at him. He started to blush as no one had looked so intently at him and not have hatred in their eyes. His heart started to race, he swallowed hard. Then Hinata blushed as she noticed she was staring and then looked down at the ground. "Sorry Naru-kun, I could just get lost in those eyes of yours."

"It's okay now that we are alone. I want to try to understand why you have done what you have done so far. Why would you blush and stutter when you would talk to me?" Naruto asked.

"Well… I was nervous, I liked you and wanted you to notice me. More so that you see me and give me some of your attention. You could say it was similar to Sasuke's fan girls but not the same. I wanted your attention but could not ask for it." Hinata blushed and started to push her index fingers together.

Naruto got a funny look on his face. "You mean like you are now?" Hinata nodded. "So you are nervous about me now even though I agreed and married you?" Hinata nodded. "Why? I like you, are you afraid I will reject you like Sasuke did the stupid fan girls?" Naruto asked.

Hinata nodded, "Yes, sort of. I am afraid that you would be angry or not want be around me. You see I have looked up to you for years now. You would push yourself till you would collapse and even further if you could. Even though you had problems with studying you would continue to try. You inspired me to do better. You could say I had a simple crush on you at first." She looked down blushing again. "It turned into more the more I got to know you, I became inspired and envied you. I then wanted to be by you."

She swallowed hard then continued. "Then I wanted to be by your side. When Sakura treated you so badly I could not stand there and let her do that. I knew you liked her and that I didn't have a chance to get your attention but I had to defend you because I loved, love you. I feel I would do anything for you. This is what I think love is." She looked at Naruto who was now smiling and crying at the same time. "Are you alright Naru-kun?"

"Yes, but that was just so… so lovely. I am so happy to have married a girl like you, I feel like I finally have won something." Naruto replied. Hinata smiled, blushed then gave him a hug. She then kissed him lightly on the lips. Naruto looked at Hinata with a surprised look on his face. "What was that for?"

Hinata smiled, "Because you looked like you needed it and I wanted too. Anyways you are my husband and I can kiss you anytime I want." She smiled slyly. He got a foxy grin on his face. Hinata saw this and was not sure what he was going to do.

"Close your eyes Hina-chan." Naruto said with the smile plastered across his face. She complied and closed her eyes. She felt his hands gently grab her shoulders, she then felt his lips touch hers ever so gently then pull away. She whimpered and moved to follow his lips. She then met them again this time a little harder but they still were gentle. She whimpered again when they left her lips, she also tried to follow.

Again their lips connected this time they stayed and continued to work with each other, she also felt his hands move from her arms to her back pulling her into him. Her heart which was beating fast increased even more. His smell was intoxicating, her breathing was labored. He finally pulled away and she was panting hard. All she could do was smile as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Naruto-kun… that was incredible…" Hinata said as she gasped for eyes seeing Naruto smiling and gasping as she was. She hugged him and gave him a quick kiss then leaned into him as he leaned back on a log they were sitting next to. Looking up into his sapphire eyes, "Naru-kun I wish tonight could last forever." Naruto smiled and shifted bringing her closer to his chin. He smiled and laid his head down on hers.

Little did Hinata know that Naruto was speechless for once. He thought that the kiss was incredible also but it was her doing not his and he could not explain the feeling he was having. It was like hunger, contentment, happiness, and wanting all rolled up into one. His stomach was tight but not painfully. He didn't know what to say.

He started the kiss as a playful thing, wanting to play with her so make her happy. But with each kiss he enjoyed it more and missed it once he stopped, so he went back for more. Finally he could no longer play and had to kiss her as he never knew he could. He became lost in the moment and did not want it to end. He finally realized they were breathing hard and he could hardly breathe, he finally decided to stop, not really wanting too.

He wanted tonight to last forever too. He also enjoyed the small kiss almost as much as the passionate one. He was now content to just sit there with her close just breathing in her scent. He pulled a sleeping bag out of one of the scrolls and laid it over them. They fell asleep quickly.

He awoke to the smell of lavender and something moving on his chest. He opened his eyes seeing a mop of brown hair. He was at first wondering where Hinata went then he remembered that they had both dyed their hair. He relaxed. She again shifted snuggling closer to him. He realized what he had been missing for years. Someone to love him, he understood that Hinata was different than having a sister, brother, a mother or father. While it felt weird to have her sleeping on his chest, it also felt good. He felt wanted. She started to stir, "Ohayougozaimasu sunshine." Naruto quietly spoke into her ear.

She giggled and smiled, "Good morning to you too silly." They both got up and looked to see that the weather was becoming bad, dark clouds were forming and Naruto could smell rain in the air. "Shall we break camp or make a shelter?"

"I guess we should break camp and head towards the town so that we can get a room for a few nights. That way we would be assured of not getting wet at night." Naruto said as he sealed the sleeping bag back into the scroll. Brushing themselves then each other off from sleeping on the ground, they both smiled at each other. "I can tell it is going to rain. We should put on our cloaks and then head out. Shall we go by trees or keep to the ground…" He then smiled. "My lovely wife?"

Hinata was shocked to hear that from Naruto even though they were married. She knew it took more than agreeing to a ceremony and some kissing, while fantastic kissing it was only kissing. They needed to develop a relationship. She wanted, no, needed him to love her. If last night was any indication he could be passionate, and she knew that he would not abandon her.

She smiled deeply as she thought. "We can use the trees until we sense someone near then we need to suppress our chakra and walk." She blushed and looked at Naruto, "Thank you for last night, I enjoyed it immensely."

Naruto scratching the back of his head, "I did too, but why are you thanking me? I wanted too and you seemed to want too so it just happened." Hinata looked confused as Naruto hung his head, "Sorry, I am not good at saying things."

Hinata smiled, "Naru-kun, just let me know if you feel okay, if not I will try to help you feel better. I know you care for me, you changed my nii-san and my family for me and for that I am grateful. That and agreeing to marry me was also a ways of showing that you care for me. Even if you do not know if you love me yet, I can wait for you to figure it out. I love you enough to wait."

Naruto finished putting out the fire and then smiled, "Well… there were a lot of reasons to go thru with the marriage. I like you and think you would be a good wife, I am not sure what that truly means but I know that it is true. You are kind and caring, we have the same nindo. I also know you would never abandon me."

Hinata moved over to Naruto and hugged him. "I have been alone for all these years." He started to tremble. "I thought I had found people who were precious to me, I was right and I was wrong."

'Oh Naruto-kun, you were hurt like no one should ever be hurt.' Hinata thought. "Naruto-kun, I would never hurt you on purpose like Sakura or Sasuke did. You may have thought you loved Sakura, but did she treat you how you wanted to be treated?" Naruto shook his head.

"I agreed to the marriage for my own selfish purposes. First and most importantly, I love you and wanted you all to myself. I have seen how you were treated and how you pushed to overcome what people put in front of you to try to stop you. I know you are hurting, I want to help you. I need to help you, because you helped me. I owe you so much but also I want to be with you. You are the boy of my dreams, and now I have you." Naruto looked surprised.

"And yes I wanted to make sure I didn't marry that jerk Sasuke, but I wanted you first. I know Sakura hurt you but I will try to help you in healing that wound. You are my one true love and I will never abandon you. Your father did great things, and you have done great things. You have done things while life is stacked against you."

Naruto started to cry, sobbing into her shoulder. "There, there my love. You can cry with me any time. I am here for you." Hinata comforted Naruto. "I know the masks you would put on each day, I found it a mark of strength that you could come each day and have a smile on your face. Others would tease you Sakura would hit you. But through it all you would smile no matter how much it hurt. Let it out, I am here for you. This is part of what love is my Naruto-kun."

Lightly hugging Naruto, Hinata continues. "I will help you through the pain and we both can enjoy each other's company. This is also what part of what marriage is. You are here for me and I am here for you. Did you know that arranged marriages, well most of them, eventually lead to love. My father knew that I would not be able to marry Sasuke, not after what he did to you, especially with how I felt and still feel about you."

Naruto was sobbing even harder and was holding her tight. "I can't make it all go away but I can try to make it hurt less. I know you thought of Sasuke as a brother, that maybe so but look at what his brother did, he killed nearly his entire clan and yet Sasuke would try to kill his best friend. You are better than him by so much, my love. He was spoiled and wanting only for revenge. Did he care about how you developed?"

"You took on Gaara of the sand and won, Sasuke could not. You carry the hardest burden in the world you are the jinjuukriki of the Kyubi the strongest of the Bijuu. You hold him and protect the world from him. And you have done it for more than thirteen years with a smile on your face. I know you have only known for a year or so. But I would like to help you with your burden."

Naruto asked in between the sobs. "How?"

"I am now your wife Uzumaki Naruto. That is my burden, and I gladly take it." She tilted his face and kissed his lips ever so gently and kept the kiss for several minutes. "See I know your burden and do not run away from it. I will do everything I can to ease your pain. You are the one I love." She kissed him again.

She looked in his swollen and bloodshot eyes. "Now shall we go my love, I will not leave you." She gathered the packs and put them on both of them. She took his hand and they quietly left the clearing. They jumped into the trees holding hands and headed towards the town Kakashi and Kurenai told them to go to.

After a half hour of going through the canopy Naruto finally spoke, "Thank you Hinata-chan. You don't know what it means to me to have someone who would do what you just did. I still hurt but I feel like you have touched something in me that I didn't know was there. I am sad, but content." He started to blush."And I never want to be apart from you. If this is love then I love you."

Hinata looked at him and smiled and tear ran down her face. Naruto started to get scared, "I am sorry, what did I do wrong? I am sorry Hinata-chan, I promise I won't do it again." Looking depressed again.

Hinata squeezed his hand, "Naruto you did nothing wrong. I am just very happy. Naruto-kun I love you too." They continued for another couple hours, then the rain started to fall. It came down in sheets. They finally had to take shelter under a tree because the branches were starting to get too slippery to continue and visibility was down to nearly nothing.

"Naru-kun, we can eat lunch here and wait out the storm." Naruto now drenched nodded and started to take his wet clothes off. Hinata let out an 'Eep!' while he was disrobing. Naruto looked back confused as Sakura had seen him lots of time only in his boxers. She would usually tell him to put some clothes on and then pound him to unconsciousness make it a longer time for him to be that way.

"Naru-kun, while I know that we are married I am not ready for us to be naked together." Naruto went bright red when she said that grabbing his wet clothes and holding them in front of his chest and hips.

He started to nervously laugh, "Sorry Hina-chan, I am just used to changing when I need too. I will finish and you can change and I won't look. I don't want you thinking I'm a pervert."

Hinata wiped away a small nose bleed, "Naru-kun, if you are not getting naked then I am fine with that. As my husband you may look while I change. If you like what you see then I am happy with that. Also, you maybe a pervert but only with me." Hinata smiled at seeing Naruto nearly naked.

Her teen mind was thinking things she had never thought before. 'Well we have not consummated the marriage yet. We have been married for a couple days. I guess it would be okay. But are we still too young?' Naruto sat down after changing. Hinata slowly at first then peeled off her clothes. She saw Naruto turn bright red out of the corner of her eye.

She turned and put on dry clothes. 'Yes Naruto, that is me, I see the blood coming out of your nose. So you enjoyed what you saw.' She smiled and walked over next to Naruto. She then sat down and took the rice ball he offered. She blushed and nuzzled under his shoulder while they quietly ate.

A/N: I enjoyed this chapter I hope you enjoy it as much reading it as I did writing it.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own neither Avatar nor Naruto…

Enjoy the chapter, I know you all want to see the Avatar but it takes time to make the moment right… See my note at the end…

Chapter 6 –

The rain turned into drizzle after a couple hours, they decided to head out and go to the village. Naruto put more makeup on his face to cover his whiskers, and then he brought the cowl of his cloak tightly over his face to make sure that the rain did not cause it to run.

They continued for a few more hours before they came to a road and decided to walk the rest of the way. They passed several people on the way to town. Most paid them no mind, while some smiled at the young couple. Naruto tried to keep his mind occupied but, all he could think about was the conversation that they had earlier. 'I think I am starting to understand love. But I am not sure. Man this is confusing.'

Hinata noticed his furrowed brow, "Are you alright Naru-kun?"

Naruto smiled but was more of a reassuring smile not his trademark grin. "Yah, I guess. I am still confused, I am still not sure. I know I am slow but aren't there things I am supposed to do as a husband? I know I am supposed to protect you, but what else?"

Hinata thought for a minute, "Well as a husband you are to protect and provide. You are supposed to attend to my needs as I attend to your needs. This is for later when we are older. I will explain it when I feel we are ready." Naruto nodded. "Your duty is to your family, until we have children you will be providing for you and me. I am not totally sure, I would say for you to ask father but that is hard to do right now."

Naruto got his trademark grin on his face. "Getting a message to your father? No it will not really be that hard. We can find out after we get a room. We will need to pick up a couple sweets though." Hinata looked at him not quite understanding. "You'll see."

When they got into town they found a nice in and got a room for a couple of nights. "We would like a room for couple of nights." Hinata asked.

"Only one?" The inn keeper asked.

"Yes my husband and I only need one room. We are on the way to my family so that we can finish the terms of the arrangement." Hinata answered as the inn keeper nodded.

"I see an arranged marriage. Guess that would be the reason to marry so young. Well here is your key and have a good evening." The inn keeper commented to Hinata.

Hinata picked up the key and then said in a commanding tone, "Come darling we need to get settled in." She then shot Naruto a smile. Who nodded and then appeared to sulk and follow Hinata up the stairs to their room.

The inn keeper frowned, 'Boy is he in for a long marriage.'

Just as soon as Naruto closed the door he started to laugh. "I must be rubbing off on you. That was one of the greatest pranks I have seen in a while. Almost as good as the one we pulled on the council." Hinata giggled at that one. They had Kurenai help with the genjutsu, along with Jiraiya. Tsunade and Hiashi were in on the joke. The seal was specific to how much chakra Naruto put into the gift.

They cleaned up and changed. They headed out to dinner Naruto was still thinking when they arrived at the restaurant. When they entered and the host did not chide Naruto, this shocked him as he was used to being chased away from nice restaurants. Hinata immediately noticed and took his hand. "It is alright Naru-kun. We would like a quiet table in the back if you please." Hinata spoke in an even tone.

"Right away madam." The host replied. "Ah I have a table, right this way please." He then led them to a small table near the back with nice lighting and had adequate atmosphere according to Hinata.

"Okay Naru-kun what do you know about eating in a restaurant?' Hinata asked quietly.

Naruto looked at her as if lost. "They would never let me into a place this nice, ever."

Hinata frowned and put her hand on Naruto's back to comfort him. "It is ok we will work on how to behave when dining. Is that ok with you?" Naruto took her other hand and nodded.

They spent the next two hours working on manners, what foods were what how to eat each type of food, and finally how to maintain proper volumes at proper times. Naruto was quiet and attentive throughout dinner as he was learning and Hinata was patient with him. She would correct but not belittle him. This gave him a warm feeling that he was cherished and not a burden.

They left the restaurant and headed back to the inn. They changed and then went to bed. Naruto was not sure how to deal with Hinata in the same bed. It was different out in the woods. He soon found that he liked having her near him curled up next to him. It felt right for some unknown reason.

Over the next couple days they would head out of town in the morning and train for a few hours. They would then head back into town and get a private bath for them so that they could clean up. Naruto would wait for Hinata to get into the bath before he would enter.

They relaxed in the bath for an hour or so. Naruto then got out and get dressed followed by Hinata. Hinata noticed that now that she was spending most of her time with Naruto that he was a quiet person and being away from others and around her he did not need to put up the loud persona. When he got attention he would give all of his attention.

He was loud during spars but he would put all his effort into their training. This made Hinata happy as he would also help her without judgment when she became stuck on something. He would only get mad at her when she would put herself down.

The closer and more she found out about Naruto the more she was happy that she was his wife. Naruto seemed to have an ability to absorb jutsu like a sponge, if it was explained in easy to understand detail. He picked up several on his first day while Hinata only figured out one and only with Naruto's help. His reply was only "Well what is a husband good for if he can't help his wife figure out a jutsu?"

They spend the next couple weeks traveling from village to village and training in the wilderness. Hinata was surprised that Naruto took most things like missions instead of like standard experiences. Their nights were spent in each other's arms sleeping. They found a routine of waking up getting ready for the day, eat breakfast, train, clean up, work on Naruto's ability to understand and retain information, then dinner, snuggling, and then going to bed.

She did notice that Naruto would not travel too far out of sight of Hinata when they were in town. They made it to the village that Jiraiya had told them to meet but saw some Konoha ninja in the village so they made sure they were prepared for a confrontation.

Naruto summoned Gamakichi, "Go find Jiraiya, and meet us back here. Make sure he does not bring any other ninja with him."

"Right boss!" Gamakichi said as he headed out.

About an hour later Hinata saw Jiraiya headed towards their camp. He came with Gamakichi and was not followed. "Hey kids. Sorry I could not meet you out in the open."

Looking at Naruto, "Your little prank on the council did not go over so well. A couple members have put a bounty on your head. Mainly Danzo and Haruno Baika, they were not pleased to find out they looked like Oni. They put some missions out to bring you back to Konoha, which would cause you to be executed of course."

Jiraiya smiled, "But there are a few ninja willing to take the assignment. Tsunade allowed it so that she could gauge the loyalty of her ninja. Those that accept are watched. Also there is a further complication and you may or may not like it. I have to ask a personal question about your relationship." Naruto and Hinata looked at each other then nodded to Jiraiya.

Jiraiya cleared his throat, "I am sorry to ask this but… Have you consummated the marriage?"

Naruto looked like he didn't have a clue what he meant, and Hinata looked down. "From your reactions I will take it as a no. That is fine but you will have too soon. Otherwise the council will be able to annul the marriage." Hinata looked frightened.

Naruto noticing this grabbed her hand and quietly said, "Whatever it is I will help you do it, no matter what it takes. I will not lose you now that I have found you."

Hinata relaxed some but understood what it meant, either they would have to lie which would be hard or they would have to take a leap she was not ready for. "Naruto-kun, you do not know what it means to consummate a marriage do you?" Naruto shook his head. "Naruto-kun, it means we have to have sex."

Naruto's eyes went wide, "NANI?" His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he turned beat red and passed out.

Jiraiya chuckled, "He took that well, better than I thought. I am sorry to impose this on your young lives but we need you guys to do this. Also Tsunade also had some scrolls for you Hinata. There is a contraceptive jutsu that will prevent pregnancy and another that should lessen the pain for your first time."

Jiraiya looked sad, "I know you love him but you will have to guide him through this. I can only advise him but I am pretty sure he will not take my advice. Also you are the ones who has to live with the consequences. I can give him a basic course if you like then leave him to you but that is up to you."

Hinata was blushing as red as ripened tomato. "No Jiraiya-sama, I think I can handle this. We would have to eventually deal with this. I was hoping for later so that we could enjoy it more and I was sure that he loved me with his whole heart. But I will not lose him."

Jiraiya looked confused, "Love you with his whole heart? The boy is yours heart and soul. From what I can tell you have given him what he has craved for years, attention, concern and most of all love. If he does not love you with all his heart he is a fool. Wait… Strike that, he is a fool but I can tell that you mean more to him than that pink haired bimbo ever did."

Jiraiya smiled warmly, "You have a real find there young lady. From what I can tell he would charge through the gates of hell for you now, and win. Before he would just charge in for you, trust me he loves you, it will just take time for him to fully realize it. His statement about not losing you, you have now become one of his most precious people. And for him that is love."

"While it is not the flashy type, he will be there for you no matter what. He would even take on your father or the Hokage for you. Now let's get him up so you can deal with this. You have only a few days to complete this because they gave you only two months to consummate the marriage and that is all. Which gives you exactly two more days to complete this task. I will chase this rabble out of here for the next couple days."

"I need you to do this and see a doctor afterwards to confirm. Can you do this Hinata?" Hinata nodded her head and proceeded to wake Naruto up with a soft kiss brining a silly grin to his face.

Jiraiya got the Konoha ninja to follow him and a couple clones he created. Hinata and Naruto checked into an inn and talked all night about what they needed to do. She studied the jutsu and was finally able to perform it correctly, she said she was ready. Her big problem was Naruto he had suddenly become totally shy.

She came up with a compromise. They found a doctor that was willing to lie for them. Naruto send the document to Tsunade with instructions that she is to give it to the council. This being Hinata's idea endeared her more to him. He was finally figuring out that she was the best thing he had ever had in his life. They ran into a couple of Konoha nin and pulled several pranks on them.

Jiraiya was impressed with her ability to come up with practical and funny pranks, this started to discourage Konoha nin from attempting to find and harm Naruto. After a couple months of training and a load of new scrolls, Jiraiya left the two to continue their travels. They continued to disguise themselves whenever around other people.

One day several months later Naruto was working with a seal and a tremendous energy enveloped the two of them.

A/N: Next chapter we meet Aang and the gang. Well we are starting with episode 3 where Aang goes Avatar for the first time. Hope you enjoyed the fluff. Next chapter… Meet the Avatar…


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar…

Sorry guys but the beginning of this chapter is going to be fairly close to cannon so bear with me. I start this chapter in Episode 3 book 1 of Avatar: The last Airbender. I make some cosmetic changes for the sake of brevity, sorry if I skip some things but I like you want the two teams to meet. So I took artistic license… :P

Chapter 7 – Meet the Avatar…

Aang, Katara and Sokka were riding Appa on their way to the Southern Air Temple. Sokka did not believe that they were actually heading into and through the clouds. Aang was going on about how it would be impossible for the Fire Nation to attack the Air Temple and they were beginning to see why he thought this. They flew up a thousand foot sheer cliff. Appa made a soft landing and they then got off of him. Sokka started to look around, "So what was it like here?"

Aang pointed to an area that had lot of posts sticking out of the ground and two large boards at either end, "So that is where my friends and I would play air ball." Pointing to a structure that appeared to be a hill with a lot of holes in it, "That was the air bison would sleep and." Aang sighs.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked.

"This place used to be full of monk, lemur and bison. Now there is just a bunch of weeds." Aang looks down in sorrow, "I can't believe how much things have changed."

Sokka looks at his friend wanting to help, "So this air ball game. How do you play?"

Sokka was standing on one of the post as Aang was spinning a ball in his hands using airbending. Aang tosses the ball into the air then shrugs as Sokka looks at him funny. Aang then spins and sends the ball flying down the field off the posts. Finally hitting Sokka and sending him through the goal.

He lands in a heap on the ground. "Why does keeping Aang happy have to hurt so much?" Sokka asked no one in particular. He notices something on the ground it was a Fire Nation soldier's helmet. He crawls over to it then looks at his sister, "Katara look at this."

Katara looking down seeing the helmet said quietly, "Fire Nation."

"We should tell him." Sokka responds.

Katara turns and yells, "Aang there is something you need to see."

Aang ran towards Katara and Sokka. Throwing the ball into the air and catching it, "Okay!"

Katara looks at Aang sadly, then back to the helmet. She turns to Aang and makes a decision. She uses water bending to pull the snow off the bank onto the helmet and Sokka. Aang excitedly asks, "What is it?"

"Ah, just a new waterbending move I learned." Katara said smiling.

"Nice, but we have a whole temple to see." Aang replied as he walked towards the temple.

"You can't protect him forever. He needs to know." Sokka said sadly as he brushed the snow off himself.

As they approach the entrance Aang is looking at a statue of a man sitting in lotus position. "Hey guys, I want to meet someone."

"Who is that?" Sokka questioned looking at the statue Aang was looking at.

"This is Monk Giatzo, the greatest airbender ever. He taught me everything I know." Aang said as his mind wanders to the past. A fun event with Giatzo came to mind, where they sent cakes flying and thus hitting the elders on the heads. He heads to the sanctuary.

Katara put a hand on Aang, "I am sorry Aang. I am sure he was a very good friend."

Aang suddenly looked excited, "I need to go meet someone. Want to come along?"

Katara not wanting to upset Aang went along with him to a door with unusual tubes on it. "How do you open it? I don't see any keys." Sokka asked.

"The key Sokka is airbending." Aang replies as he opens the doors using airbending. Inside the room there are hundreds of statues circling the room up into the heights of the chamber hundreds of feet up. Aang seems to be fixated on the last in the line.

"Aang? Who is that?" Katara asked.

"Avatar Roku."

"How do you know that?" Katara asked. "There are no plaques or inscriptions."

"I don't know." Aang shrugged. "I just do."

"Look there is a pattern to the statues. Fire, earth, water, and air." Katara says in realization.

"That is the avatar cycle. These are my past lives. Roku is the last in the succession of the incarnations of Avatars." Aang responded.

A shadow appears in the hallway leading to the chamber. "Hide, fire nation." Sokka whispers as everyone hides quickly. The shadow appears to be that of a fire nation helmet. The kids are nervous as the shadow keeps getting larger. Finally a winged lemur appears in the doorway. "Meat!" Sokka yells as he runs towards the lemur.

"No I want him to be my friend." Aang says as he chases after the lemur also.

Katara just smiles and shakes her head as the boys chase after the lemur. Aang creates a ball of air and rides it past Sokka. The chase finally ends in a tarp covered one story building with several long dead fire nation soldiers.

"Fire nation? When did they get here?" Aang says as he looks around the room. His eyes fixate on a skeleton on the far wall. "No…" The skeleton is wearing a monk's robes and the medallion that Giatzo wore when Aang knew him. "NO!" Aang's eyes and tattoos glow white as he rises from the ground. "No! No! No!"

"Oh no…" Sokka sadly says as he finds that Aang has discovered Giatzo.

The statue's eyes light up in a progression from Roku back through the other avatars. "Aang…" Katara whispers as she runs from the room. All over the world in the temples dedicated to the avatar ceremonial altars light up and the keeps know that the avatar has returned.

In the fire temple there is a slightly different reaction. "Notify the Fire Lord that the Avatar is back."

Back at the southern air temple Aang is now surrounded by a swirling ball of air as his eyes and tattoos glow even brighter. "No!" Aang continues to scream.

"What happened?" Katara questioned Sokka as she fights against the winds that are whipping the area from Aang's anguish.

"He found monk Giatzo's body. And he has lost control." Sokka yelling his reply.

"Aang! I know you hurt, I know think you have lost everything. But you still have family. Yes the monks maybe gone. But you still have Sokka and me. We are your family now." Katara yells trying to comfort Aang.

"Ahh!" Aang yells with a final burst of energy. Something comes rocketing out of the energy burst into the wall on the far side of the building. Aang then falls from the air as Katara runs and catches him.

"Aang are you ok?" Katara asks caringly.

"I just miss them, and it hurts so much. You won't leave will you?' Aang asks as Katara cradles Aang's head.

"No Aang. Not as long as we can help it." Katara hugs Aang.

"Hey buddy, we won't abandon you. We are just getting to know you." Sokka said as he hugged the two of them. "I love family."

Some rocks move causing the three to jump. Aang was still being cradled by Katara. Sokka got out his boomerang. As they rounded a boulder a large stone was moved by a petite young girl with short black hair. Her moving the stone revealed a young blond boy and his body had made an impression on the stone wall leaving an indentation and spider web marks in the wall. He appeared to be bleeding out of his ears and mouth. He appeared to be barely breathing.

The girl turned on Sokka, "What do you want?" She shifted into a defensive stance.

Sokka noticed that she was cute but also a little beat up. She was wearing unusual clothing, nothing local or anything that was from the fire nation. She also had the deepest blue eyes he had ever seen. He lowered his boomerang and stared at her mumbling. "Uh…"

She looked confused and stood protectively over the blond. "What are you doing and what do you want?"

"Sokka, what is it? Aang need help over here." Katara yells from behind Sokka.

Sokka starts to get freaked out when the veins next to her eyes bulged. "Who are the others with you? I will protect him with all that I am. Do you understand me?" She said with a deadly tone.

"Ah, Katara, we have guests." Sokka turned his head but not taking his eyes off the newcomers.

"I will be there in a second when I am sure Aang is ok." Katara responded.

Holding his boomerang and pointing at the girl he starts to talk. "You should be more polite when you enter a temple. And…"

She moved with lighting speed and hit him on the shoulder causing his arm to drop limply to the side. She then held a weapon to his throat. "I told you I would protect my Naruto-kun. Do you wish to take this further? Or do you wish to drop your weapon?"

Sokka smiled and dropped the boomerang. "Does that work?"

"You will now help me carry Naruto-kun to your companions." The girl ordered Sokka.

"Sure as long as you don't kill us. You are not from the fire nation are you?" Sokka asked sheepishly.

"The fire nation? What do you mean fire nation?" The girl asked with a confused expression.

"Whew. That is good. I was afraid you were fire nation assassins after us." Sokka said as he picked up Naruto. "What is in the pack? It weighs a ton."

"Be careful with Naruto-kun." The girl said with a concerned look on her face. "Now let's go. He should wake in a few minutes."

Sokka carrying Naruto with the girl holding both weapons rounded the corner to the meet the surprised looks of Aang and Katara. "Ok who are they? Is he hurt?" Katara immediately got up and ran to Naruto. "Get him over by Aang. He is really hurt."

"Let's get that pack off before we set him down." Katara grabbed Naruto as Sokka took his pack off. "Ok easy, we can use the pack as a pillow for now. We should check him before we move him further."

"Who are these new people?" Aang asked with a weak smile.

The girl bowed. "I am Hyuuga Uzumaki Hinata, and this is my husband Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. You may call me Hinata, and my husband Naruto."

All three of the others were awe struck, married and so young. Aang smiled. "I am Aang, this is Katara, and the goofy one is Sokka."

"You wouldn't happen to have any food would you?" Sokka asked while drooling.

Hinata giggled. "First I must check and see how injured he is so that we know how long it will be until we can travel."

"What do you mean? I am sure he has internal bleeding and broken ribs." Katara said with a concerned look on her face.

"My Naru-kun, heals quickly." Hianta said smiling as she moved her hand over Naruto. Her hand started to glow green. "Hm… slight concussion, a couple broken ribs and slight internal bleeding he will be fine in a few hours to be moved to a safer location."

The others again were awe struck. "How can you say we will be able to move him in a couple hours?" Katara asked. "No one heals that fast. Especially from internal bleeding. "

"You don't know my Naru-kun" Hinata smiled warmly as she caressed his face.

Hinata moved towards Aang. "May I check you also as you appear to be hurt?"

Aang nodded with his head cradled in Katara's lap. Hinata's hand again glowed green and she passed it over Aang.

"You are suffering from chakra exhaustion, and a little fatigue." Hinata smiled at Aang.

Aang looked at Naruto then at Hinata who was brushing some of his hairs out his eyes. "May I ask you a question Hinata?"

Hinata blushed, "Yes you may Aang-san."

"How is it that you are so young and married? Also you do not seem to be from the area. Where are you from?" Aang asked.

Hinata looked up for a minute then back down to at Naruto. "Well we are exiles from Konohagakure no sato, in the land of Fire. As for us being married…" She blushed. "Naruto-kun agreed to it so that we would not be parted when he was exiled." She continued to run her fingers through his hair and smile longingly.

"Land of fire? Don't you mean the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked worriedly.

Hinata shook her head. "No. The Land of Fire is not a nation, just one of the many countries, like Tea, Wind, Lightning or any of the many others." Hinata answered with a confused look on her face.

The three others now looked confused. "So you are saying you don't know about the Fire Nation? How about the Earth Kingdom? The Water Tribes?"

Hinata still looking at Naruto, "No, I have heard of the Land of Earth, and Water, but not the way you describe them. Sorry. I am not even sure what brought us here but we are here now."

"Aang what happened to you a little bit ago?" Katara asked.

"I think I went into the Avatar state. A state in which I receive all the powers of the previous Avatars that came before me." Aang answered. "Could that have brought them here?"

"I don't know Aang. Also I have never seen anyone with hair that color. Browns and black never a golden yellow. Also he has what looks like whisker marks on his face. Either they are tattoos or scars." Katara said as she took a closer look at Naruto.

"And she is faster than anyone I have ever met. Faster than that Zuko guy. She was able to take my arm out and be behind me before I knew it. And my arm is still numb." Sokka said with a pout on his face.

"I am sorry Sokka-san, but I was protecting Naruto-kun. And I will do anything to protect him." Hinata said as she continued to brush Naruto's hair lightly with her hands. His breathing started to strengthen and a slight smile crossed his face.

"What is it with you saying san and kun after everyone's name?" Sokka asked.

"You mean you do not use these forms of honorifics when addressing others?" Hinata asked with a shocked look on her face.

"I don't even know what they mean." Sokka replied.

"Hm… Well when you address someone of similar or lower social status you can use the san after a name. Kun is used for young boys or male acquaintance of the same age. It can also be used for those that you are in love with, as I am with Naruto-kun. Chan is used for young girls or the same thing as in kun for a male. No suffix denotes either familiarity or intimate relations. Sama is for either your elders, as in parents or others that are older in your family you respect. Also it is used for those in positions of authority. I hope this helps you some." Hinata responded.

--

A/N: For those of you who ask why Hinata is so trusting. She feels no threat from Aang and the group and is more worried about Naruto than a group of non-ninja kids who are not a threat. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as it was harder than you think. The next chapter was easier and more fun to write and should be up soon.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… or Avatar for that matter…

Now back to the story…

Chapter 8 – The stories… well sort of…

The ruined building was now getting colder as the sun started its decent towards the horizon. The wind storm that was caused by Aang had cleared the building of anything that was lighter than Katara. Naruto woke a couple hours later finding a sleeping bag on him and his nose cold but his face warm as Hinata continued caress his face and it caused him to blush.

"Now explain it to me again. How are you able to hold a sleeping bag and food in a scroll?" Sokka asked with a confused look on his face.

Hinata shook her head smiling, as this was the fifth time she had explained storage scrolls. "I just push a certain amount of chakra into the scroll and think of the item I want out of it and it will appear. I do a similar thing to put things back into them. It takes some time to lean to do it correctly but the scrolls are invaluable."

"Huh?" Sokka still looked confused. "Oh well, they are great. And we don't go hungry. Hurray for us."

"Sokka, we need to move Aang and Naruto inside before nightfall. It will get really cold up here at night. Given the altitude and the already cold temperature, it will be getting colder. Aang where is the best place to stay? I think we should stay as a group for protection." Katara looked at Hinata. "If that is alright with you?"

"That sounds good. Naruto-kun do you think you can move yet?" Hinata asked quietly.

Naruto nodded and started to get up wincing in pain as he moved, holding his ribs. Hinata helped him while following the others inside the temple. Hinata sat Naruto down carefully as Katara also did the same with Aang. Sokka started a fire as Hinata left to get the packs that were left outside.

"Hey Naruto-kun." Sokka said to Naruto with an emphasis on kun, causing Naruto to wince. "So you are married? How old are you anyways?"

Naruto's eyes glazed over and he smiled. "Yes I am married, and to the most wonderful girl in the world. We are both thirteen years old. Why? And please do not call me kun, san, or no honorific, but not kun."

Sokka's jaw hit the floor. "Thir… thir… thirteen? How does one get married at thirteen?"

Naruto smiled. "Several long stories, needless to say we had to do it and chose to do it at the same time." Naruto smiled lovingly at Hinata, who smiled back at him as she returned. "She loved me and didn't want me to be alone. I could not hurt her so I accepted. It has been wonderful ever since." Naruto got a faraway look in his eyes. She hugged him affectionately but carefully enough not to hurt him.

"Huh?" Was all Sokka could say.

"That is so romantic," Katara said with stars in her eyes looking at a confused Aang. "If only I could find a guy like that."

Aang raised an eyebrow then looked at Naruto. "We do have all evening to listen if you are willing to tell your story."

"There is one condition." Hinata said as she set the packs and the sleeping bag down in the room. "We will tell our story but you have to tell us about this land. I am sure we are no longer in the Fire country or near the border of the Wind country Naruto. I am not even sure we are on our world."

Naruto looked confused. "I only remember signing the toad summoning contract not a Naruto and Hinata summoning contract."

Hinata giggled at Naruto's frustration.

"Okay, works for me. Who should start?" Aang replied excitedly.

Everyone shrugged their shoulders. "Guess I will start." Aang took a deep breath as he started. "I am Aang the current Avatar. If you could keep that under wraps it would be nice. I was born around a hundred and twelve years ago. I was trapped in ice for one hundred years with my friend Appa." Aang said as he patting the sky bison behind him.

"I was found by Katara and Sokka near the south pole. We became friends and they agreed to travel with me so that I can lean bend all the elements. That is the short story. We came here thinking there maybe some more airbenders but we have not found any." Aang continued with a sad look on his face. "I may be the last airbender there is."

"Airbender? You mean you can use wind jutsu?" Naruto excitedly asked.

"Jutsu? What are jutsu?" Aang commented looking very confused.

Naruto made the ram hand sign and said "Kage Bunshin no jutsu" and another Naruto appeared. "This is the shadow clone jutsu. I made a tangible copy of myself."

"What do you mean tangible?" Saka asked.

Hinata focused her chakra, "Bunshin no jutsu" and a second Hinata appeared.

Both Naruto walked up to the two Hinata and gave each a hug. On set actually embraced. When the second Naruto attempted to grab Hinata he moved through her like she was just an illusion, which she was.

"These are jutsu. These are clones, one is solid the other is an illusion. Also Hinata-chan has had one active since we met. You can lower it Hinata-chan." Naruto explained.

They all watched as Hinata's eyes became lavender without pupils.

"You mean she is blind?" Sokka asked bluntly.

Hinata giggled. "No, actually I can see better than any of you. I have special eyes that are specific to only my family, also known as a blood line trait, or Kekkei Genkai. My eyes can see through objects, walls and the like. Also I can see your chakra coils."

"You see Aang-san has large coils like Naruto-kun. But Sokka-san has small coils like Lee-kun. These chakra coils are the pathways where chakra flows through the body. I can see it when I have my eyes activated." Hinata continued.

"We do not have jutsu, we can only bend elements. Katara can bend water and I can bend air." Aang said as he created a ball of air and sat on it. "This is an air scooter."

"I would love to learn that!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Calm down Naruto-kun." Hinata said quietly while grabbing his arm. "Now we need to tell our stories." She looked into Naruto's eyes with worry. "Should we tell them everything? I don't think we are anywhere Konoha and I don't think that they know anything about jutsu at all. They may not even know about fuzzy and his kind."

Naruto thought for a couple minutes. "I can't tell you everything just yet. We have only met and there are some really personal things that we would have to reveal to you and it might frighten or upset you. I can tell you that we are ninja from the village hidden in the leaves, also known as Konoha. We have been trained from an early age to learn the way of the shinobi. We were taught…" Naruto had a sad look in his eyes. "At least most of us were taught taijutsu, the way of the fist. Ninjutsu, the way of the ninja, also known as ninja spells. Genjutsu, the way of illusion, to change what is seen. Kenjutsu, the way of the sword. Fuuinjutsu, the way of sealing . Kinjutsu, the forbidden way. And finally Doujutsu, the way of the eyes." Naruto smiled with being able to remember all the categories of jutsu.

"We trained at the academy together, once we graduated." He grumbled a little bit, but Hinata put her arm on his shoulders. "We would be assigned to teams of three for further training and missions. As we progress in skill we would be tested. The chunin test, then later a jonin test. Neither of us passed the chunin test so we are genin." Naruto continued his tale.

"A little while after the chunin exams one of my teammates, left the village without permission. Me and several others were sent to retrieve him. He left seeking power for his own ends. I was selected for the group to retrieve him as my other teammate could not persuade him not to leave." Naruto had a look of pain on his face and the words were slow in coming. Hinata squeezed him in a comforting hug.

"My team left the village and Shikamaru, our leader setup a good strategy for us to follow. Ultimately we had to peel off one at a time to deal with enemy ninja that were helping Sasuke-teme out. I finally caught up with him and tried to talk him into returning, even used a little force, but to no avail." Naruto was gritting his teeth.

"We fought and he nearly killed me several times. I finally was able to stop him but we were knocked out in the process. When I awoke I was back in the village, with news that we had succeeded in our mission. The village council did not like how I handled the retrieval. They thought I should not have hurt him so much. What was I supposed to do? He was headed to an enemy village to abandon our village. I even thought of him as a brother." Naruto was finally not able to speak anymore as he buried his head into Hinata's shoulder.

"I can continue Naruto-kun, I know how much this hurts you." Hinata said comforting Naruto. "Naruto-kun had a hard childhood and was not well liked by the village. His other teammate was not the kindest girl and would abuse him often, even though he did like her. When Naruto-kun woke up his so called teammate berated him for what he did to Sasuke, whom I did not care much for anyways. I got into an argument with his teammate Sakura and tried to stop her abuse of Naruto-kun. Tsunade-sama our Hokage, the leader of our village finally stopped her."

"I was there to comfort Naruto-kun in his time of need. It was also let out that I had a secret crush on him." Looking down at Naruto she smiled. "It was then that he finally saw me, and I was happy. Well our happiness was short lived. The council in their infinite wisdom decided a few things." Hinata face contorted to that of pure rage.

"They decided that Naruto-kun should be banished for hurting their precious Sasuke. They also thought they would marry me off to the teme. My father came up with a plan to circumvent their plans. He did not want Sasuke in the family and actually liked Naruto-kun. So since the betrothal would go into effect the next day he had us wed that day. The happiest moment in my life was when I got my Naruto-kun." Hinata smiled happily.

"We left the village a week later. We have been traveling for several months training and surviving. That is until today. That is when we ended up here. Yes, I know that we are not telling you everything as we are not sure you can handle everything we have to tell you. Also as we have only met and for that information we need trust and that will come with time. I am truly sorry we cannot tell you yet." She nodded her head in a bow while still holding Naruto.

"Okay, we are here." Sokka rolled out a map showing the world and pointing to a white island. "The Southern Air Temple and we are going to the Northern Water tribe here." He was now pointing to a spot on the north end of the map.

"So what are each one of these islands? Why are there just the four basic colors on the map?" Hinata asked looking at the map.

"Well, each color corresponds to type of bending element. White stands for Air, Blue for Water, Green for Earth, and Red for Fire." Sokka explained as he pointed to each color on the map. "Air, is referred to as the Air Nomads, of which Aang is part of and maybe the last survivor. Water, is for the Water tribes of which Katara and I are a part of. Earth is for the Earth Kingdom. And finally we have Fire for the Fire Nation, of which everyone is at war with."

"So how long has this war been going on?" Naruto asked as he winced while changing the way he was sitting.

"Are you okay Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with a concerned look on her face.

Naruto reached up and kissed her gently. "I will be soon. Still a little stiff but I am healing fine." He then pulled out his pack up and was going through it.

"Well it has been going on for about a hundred or so years. So far the Air Nomads and the Southern Water Tribes have been attacked and either destroyed or nearly so. We figure if we can get Aang the training he needs then we can help end this war and bring peace to the world." Katara said as she smiled at Aang.

Hinata smiled as she saw this but said nothing. "Naruto-kun are you looking for the map?"

"Yes." Naruto said in a frustrated voice. "Wait, I found it!" He then rolled out a map looking very different than the one that Sokka had. Naruto pointed at a red area, "Here is the Fire country where we are from. As you can see it is not the Fire Nation that you are familiar with."

Sokka looked excited as he went over the map. "Hm… Fire, Earth, Lightning, Wind, Sound, Tea… Wait what is this marking of Snow and Spring together?"

"Well the country was known as the country of Snow until I did an important mission there and we were able to bring spring to the land. Now when it is having spring it is call Spring when winter sets in it is called Snow. I know kind of silly but that is what the leader wanted." Naruto replied chuckling then wincing. "Remind me not to laugh after breaking ribs Hinata-chan." This caused Hinata to nod and chuckle at her husband's statement.

"We should be getting to bed now." Hinata said as she used a scroll and made a large mat to appear.

--

A/N: Sorry for the filler chapter, I promise the next one to be much better. Someone is coming to dinner… muhahahaha…


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar. But the plotline sure is fun…

Chapter 9 – Someone is coming to dinner… Sort of…

After setting up camp and getting the fire going they all got into their sleeping bags. Sokka asked why Naruto and Hinata were in the same bag only to be smacked gently in the back of the head by Katara. "They are married so they can do that. We should talk about what we do next in the morning. I am glad to have met you Hinata and Naruto. We are sorry for things not going well for you both. Good night and thank you very much for the food."

"Lemur!" Aang yelled causing everyone to jump. The lemur from earlier had brought some fruit to Sokka. "Your name will be Momo."

As everyone got settled again Aang went over by Naruto and Hinata. "I can tell there is something different about you. I will not press you but I can tell. You can tell me when you are ready." Aang then smiled and acted a little less serious. "I would love to learn those jutsu thingies. I trade bending for jutsu, deal?"

Naruto smiled at Aang with a foxy grin. "Works for me, now let's get some sleep."

That night Naruto is restless as is Aang. Naruto's demon chakra leaked out thus disturbing Hinata. Aang went into his Avatar state disturbing Katara. Both girls saw this and looked worriedly at each other. "What is going on?" Both ask each other.

Hinata had an idea what was going on with Naruto. She looked down at Naruto and saw that his whisker marks were darker, his hair was wilder and his canines slightly stuck out of his mouth. Katara knew what was happening to Aang but was not sure how to stop it. Katara was looking at Aang, his tattoos were glowing a bright blue white. Both girls jumped when they heard a loud noise. They looked over at Sokka to see him snoring very loudly. Both girls giggled at this. A look of worry returned to both of their faces as they looked at the boy they cared about and were not able to do anything for them.

Aang found himself lying in shallow water in a concrete hallway. He picked himself up and found that he could feel a slight rhythmic breeze. He followed the breeze to its source. He found a large room with a double gate and a piece of paper stuck across the front of the two doors. He also saw Naruto lying on the ground in the water.

Naruto slowly got up. "Hi Aang. You can come in and meet my secret." Naruto grinned and pointed to the gate and back to Aang. "Secret, Aang, Aang, Secret…"

A sinister laugh came from behind the gate.

"Okay Aang don't freak out but my secret is a little weird." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head.

An even louder cackle came from the gates.

"Shut up you damn fox." Naruto yelled at the gates to the confusion of Aang. Naruto got a serious look on his face and looked at Aang. "You know about demons, right?"

Aang nodded, "I know of them, but they are just legends. I know about spirits more as I am the bridge between the spirit world and the real world, or so I have been told."

Even more laughter came from the gates also some rustling sounds like something was rolling around.

"Well Aang, demons are real. And I have one inside me." Naruto looked at Aang to gauge his reaction.

"How can you have a demon inside of you? I am sure you are not a demon. So how? And who keeps on laughing." Aang asked as he looked intently at the gate.

"Well… You remember me telling you about sealing?" Naruto asked as Aang nodded. "Well a demon attacked our village around the time of my birth, actually the day of my birth. He was called Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine tailed demon fox. And I got the privilege of having him sealed in me to save the village, by my father. Thus begins the tale of my life."

"Sorry." Aang said softly.

"It isn't your fault. I have had to deal with this all my life. I have known about fluffy…" Naruto said while point over his shoulder towards the gates. There was a low growl from the gates at his statement. "For about two years now. And thus the reason I had a hard childhood. Mistreatment, abuse and attempted assassinations, were the fun I have had."

"That is terrible."

"As bad as you think and worse, than you can imagine. The fox heals me and gives me his chakra. So you want the whole story? I am sure you want to know more about this." Naruto sweeps his arms wide as if showing off the room as Aang nods.

"Well here is where the fox and I converse. He is held by the seal on the gates thus he cannot escape. Even though he is dead, has no body and thus he will not be able to go anywhere, he still wants out. I can control the chakra he gives me up to about two tails worth of chakra. I get hurt if I push it that far for too long. He is the reason I was kicked out of the village, well sort of, it was part of it." Naruto expression turned sad.

"**You should tell the great Avatar your story kit. I am humbled at least somewhat to meet an actual Avatar**." Kyuubi told Naruto and Aang.

Naruto nodded and started to speak. "Well I guess I will start at the end of the academy, where I learned the truth about Kyuubi. One of my teachers tricked me into taking a sacred scroll. I learned the shadow clone jutsu from it while waiting for him to come and get me. It turned out to be a trap and that he actually wanted the scroll for power and kill me so he could cover up his transgression."

Naruto took a deep breath and continued. "I was able help my other teacher capture the traitor. I was then placed on a team. It seemed like I had a place for a little while. We were able to do missions and work together at least on a basic level. Oh and I had a slight crush on the girl on my team, Sakura. She continued to mistreat me, oh well…"

"What about Hinata? You are married to her so what happened?" Aang asked.

"You didn't quite listen too well when Hinata told you did you?" Naruto asked as Aang shook his head. "That is okay. Well we went through the chunin exams. A chunin is the next rank for a ninja. We all failed to understand the test but we did ok up until the finals. Hinata had a hard match against her cousin but I tried to inspire her to continue. I succeeded but she was hurt very badly. I was then matched up again her cousin. Thanks to Hinata's encouragement I won my match against Hinata's cousin. They made up after I beat him in the chunin exams. We are friends now." Naruto happily said.

"My team and I went on a few more missions. One to the country of Snow, where helped an actress who actually was a princess. Then things started to fall apart. I think that that the curse seal was having an effect on Sasuke or something like that. He was always worried about getting stronger but he was changing. Then there was Sakura… She would love to punish me physically for making even the smallest of mistakes, oh and she was infatuated with Sasuke to boot. Some team we made, the loser, me, an emotional wreck and avenger, then there was miss I love Sasuke fan girl." Naruto spoke with an irritated voice.

"We had one last mission before Sasuke tried to leave to that bastard Orochimaru. Sasuke got hurt but as his wounds healed he was not able to take that I was able to increase my abilities so quickly. While he was improving he felt as if he was standing still. So we had a fight, we nearly killed each other. He left the village soon after that. I was sent with some other friends to find and retrieve him. We succeeded but it was costly. While none of died we were all injured." Naruto took a couple breaths in an attempt to calm himself down. He had felt his features changing, his nails and canines were elongating.

He looked at Aang who had a surprised look on his face. "This is what happens when I get emotional and access the Kyuubi's power. I look like a monster don't I?"

"While it is surprising, I don't think you look like a monster. You have not attacked only transformed. I agree that it is different but still it is not that bad. I am sure that the Kyuubi does this to help protect you in times of distress." Aang replied.

"Yes I guess so." Looking down at his clawed hands, "But this is what happened when I went up against Sasuke. I fought him, not to kill him, like he was trying to do with me. I wanted to bring him back not as a corpse but alive. He on the other hand went for the kill." Naruto lifted his shirt revealing three nearly circular spots of lighter colored skin. "See where he put holes in me? Thanks to the Kyuubi I was able to take that kind of damage and live."

"**And you would be so lucky to have access to my power kit. I will not let you die if I can help it. You have earned my respect. I still hate you as my jailor but I respect you kit**." Kyuubi growled from his cage.

"Straight from the fox's mouth." Aang said jokingly causing a laugh to come from the cage.

"When I woke up I was in the hospital. I was going over what happened when Sakura came in and berated me for what I did to Sasuke. I had fought with all I had and apparently was able to knock him out. She was only too happy to let me know how much she liked what I had done. I was bandaged up and their precious Sasuke had a bump on the head." Naruto was scowling at the memory.

"Now comes the good part." Naruto mood changed to a foxy grin. "Hinata-chan came in and defended me from Sakura. Sakura let it be known that Hinata-chan liked me, I was stunned but happy. Hinata-chan comforted me while Sakura continued to degrade me. Then Tsunade baa-chan stopped her cold. But did my misery end there? No, life had more for me to endure. The village council for what it is worth declared that I went too far in fulfilling my duties in bringing back Sasuke, so I was to be banished. They then had the gall to say that Hinata-chan and others were too be married to that bastard."

"Well Hinata's father was not going to have Sasuke as a son-in-law if he could help it. So he came up with the idea for Hinata-chan and I be married. Hinata-chan is the sweetest girl in the world and I would never want to hurt her. She wanted me to be her husband, she loves me, and I have only begun to understand why. As it stands now I am beginning to love her in return but I am not sure on what it all entails as I grew up alone and despised by most." Naruto continued as his emotions were on a rollercoaster from retelling his experiences.

"We were married that day to save her from a life with that bastard. We left the village a week later as proscribed in the exile proclamation. We have been together ever since, training and helping me try to understand what love is. I do know that I could not live without her anymore. She is all that I could hope for and know that I am so undeserving of her." Naruto's frown turned to smile, "But I try to be worthy of that love, as she loves me and there is nothing that can stop that. I look forward to every day I get to spend with her."

Aang wiping tears from his face as the fox is laughing in his cage.

"That is so…" Aang says but does not continue his thought.

"**Come on kit, take your prize she is your mate after all!**" The fox chimed in.

"Shut up you damn fox! We will deal with that when the time comes!" Naruto yelled shaking his fist at the cage.

"**You know you want too… She is a fine vixen… You won the lottery in game of love kit.**" The fox continued to taunt Naruto.

Aang started to laugh at the two arguing back and forth. "You guys sound like Sokka and Katara when they fight. Like siblings I guess."

"Great I am related to a stupid fox." Naruto crossed his arms and huffed. He did smile after a moment realizing how silly he and the fox were being. The fox was rolling with laugher in his cage. "So do you hate me for not telling you it all to begin with?"

"No Naruto, I do understand why you have kept this… Secret." Pointing to the cage, "That is one heck of a secret." Aang stood and bowed to the cage. "It was nice to meet you all powerful Kyuubi and prisoner of Naruto. I am sorry you are imprisoned."

The fox chuckled, "**I too am honored to me an Avatar. As for being a prisoner I was tricked into this by someone and I was not pleased but I have become used to this existence as I had the one before. Naruto I will tell you of this later, when I believe you are ready.**"

Both boys woke to find their heads cradled in a female's lap, Naruto in Hinata's and Aang in Katara's. Both girls seemed to be crying. Naruto reached up and attempted to wipe away Hinata's tears.

"I am so sorry if I worried you Hinata-chan. Aang got to meet someone." Naruto weakly smiled.

Hinata leaned down and kissed Naruto on the lips. "Of course Naruto-kun, I was just worried because you were leaking red chakra. And Aang's tattoos were glowing. We were both worried. I was worried that I would lose you."

Naruto slowly sat up and moved into a hug with Hinata. "I am sorry, so sorry. I didn't know that this would happen. I don't even know what happened." He squeezed Hinata again. "Aang do you think Katara and Sokka should know also?"

Aang smiled and nodded. "I think we should tell Katara now, but Sokka can wait until morning." Looking up at Katara, "Katara listen to him before you judge anything. He has quite a story to tell. And you will be both shocked and amazed."

Katara nodded as she wiped the tears from her face and listened to Naruto's story. And she was shocked and amazed. Shocked by how callus people were to him and that he carried a demon. She was amazed that he carried the burden of a demon his whole life. She was angered with the treatment he received and happy that he turned out to be such nice guy.

Sokka woke the next morning to a shocking sight. Hinata was sleeping on top of Naruto in their bag. But what shocked him even more was that Katara was snuggled up against Aang. He started poking Aang with his bone hammer. This disturbed Katara waking her up.

"What do you think you are doing Sokka?" Katara asked while gritting her teeth.

"Trying to figure out what he did to you so that you would be cuddling with him." Sokka ask nonchalantly.

"We had a rough night, which I might add you slept through. I needed comfort almost as much as Aang did. So let us sleep." Katara laid her head back down and pulled Aang even closer to her just to spite her brother.

"So what did I miss Appa?" Sokka asked the sky bison.

Appa just let out a low bellow.

"Oh is that all? Well I guess I just wait until they wake up and inform me." Sokka said as he went over to Appa and lay down against his tail.

--

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the meeting with Fluffy… Oh and no nothing has happened yet in with Naruto and Hinata in the lemon department. Hey they are only thirteen so they should wait a little longer.

Next chapter the fun causing Zuko to go crazy…


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own either Avatar the last air bender or Naruto… Would be interesting if I did oh well back to the story.

Chapter 10 -

Naruto woke up with a familiar weight on his chest. He smiled knowing that it was Hinata. Aang woke up in a position that he was not familiar with, namely with Katara's arm wrapped around his waist.

"Morning beautiful." Naruto said quietly with a kiss.

"Hn… Morning…" Hinata said with a yawn, she then snuggled into Naruto's chest. "I love you Naruto-kun"

"Finally! You're awake!" Sokka yells, waking Katara who looked at Aang and blushed.

"You are even louder than me. And that is saying something." Naruto says with a chuckle. Hinata giggles as she continued to snuggle with Naruto. Naruto starts to forget what he wanted to tell Sokka as Hinata kissed him which he returned with just as much passion.

"Jeez, is that all you do? Just kiss?" Sokka asked frustrated and annoyed.

Naruto got a big grin on his face as he turned to Sokka. Hinata sensing what he was up too whispered into Naruto's ear. "Don't you dare Naruto-kun."

Naruto frowned and kissed Hinata. "But Hinata-chan he is complaining about us kissing."

"Let the poor boy be we need to discuss something with him anyways." Hinata reminded Naruto.

Naruto immediately became serious. "Sokka we have to talk."

Sokka let out a loud gulp.

Sokka then looked serious. "Don't tell me. You are a demon but you are going to tell me that you do not want to eat me." Sokka then plastered a huge grin on his face hoping for a few laughs.

The room was silent as Naruto mood changed to being very sad as Hinata hugged Naruto.

"Hey! I was just kidding. You are not a demon. Heck they don't even exist." Sokka said as he tried to liven the mood.

Naruto shook his head as tears fell. "No Sokka. Demons do exist." Naruto raised his head as he showed his feral state, eyes red with a slit in each, wild hair and darkened whisker marks. "I am not a demon but I do posses one."

Sokka looked very scared. "You are not going to eat me are you?"

"No he is not. Sokka get a grip of yourself." Katara said angrily.

Sokka then looked at Naruto and saw the tears. "Are you crying? Why are you crying?"

"I was afraid you will hate me for containing a demon." Naruto said as his features returned to normal.

"Hate you? Why would I hate you? We have the Avatar and now we have access to a demon. Now we can take on the whole Fire Nation and win." Sokka said with a satisfied smile.

"Naruto-kun is not ready to do a war for you. We also do not know if everything you say is true about the Fire Nation." Hinata said angrily glaring at Sokka.

"Sokka he is not a demon, he is its jailor. And I only know how to bend air right now. I still need to find teachers to teach me how to bend the other elements. So we are not ready to fight the Fire Nation." Aang said sadly.

"Aang and Hinata are right Sokka. So listen and shut up. You are upsetting Naruto." Katara glared daggers at Sokka.

Sokka knew when he was beat and hung his head in defeat. "I am sorry Naruto, please continue."

Naruto nodded. "As we told you before there are things that we would not tell you yet. Well we are going to tell them to you now." Naruto waited for Sokka to nod. "We are from a different place, I am not sure if it is a different plain or planet, I just don't know. Where come from a place where there are demons, and yes they are very real. One attacked my village the day I was born. My father in order to protect the village sealed this demon inside of me. When I get really emotional as you saw I show some of the traits of the demon. I can use and mold it's chakra but I am not the demon. Does that help you any?"

Sokka nodded.

"The reason for my exile was also partly because I was the container of the demon. I have never hurt those of the village but they did hurt me. So many times I lost count." The last sentence was only a whisper. "I did as I was told and was punished for it. I may never become Hokage now." Naruto slumped over as tears dripped onto the ground.

"Oh Naruto-kun. If we get back I am sure we can figure a way to get that done together, my love." Hinata said as she rubbed Naruto's back.

Sokka looked down and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Sorry man, I didn't mean to make fun of you. I really didn't know you had a demon sealed within you. I am really sorry. I know we have a long road ahead of us but I just thought…" Sokka didn't finish the thought. "Sorry."

Hinata weakly smiled. "We know. It is just an open wound that is slowly healing. Naruto-kun, let's go outside and spar some."

Naruto nodded wiping his eyes and walking outside with Hinata. The others followed him. Naruto took up a loose stance while Hinata took up a juken stance. Naruto took a deep breath and then shot forward. His right hand shot at Hinata's face but was blocked by her left hand. She sent her right hand at Naruto's exposed right side. Naruto spun to his left and avoided it while he swung his left hand high, which she promptly ducked. Naruto right foot came up then down but was blocked by Hinata's right arm as she did a foot sweep that sent Naruto to the ground. He rolled out of it into a standing pose smiling.

"Feeling better Naruto-kun?" Hinata said flirtatiously as she smiled at Naruto.

"Much better Hinata-hime, thank you. Is that enough for a warm up?" Naruto asked as Hinata nodded. They again started to trade blows but this time only Aang could follow the speed at which they were striking. Naruto and Hinata continued for another thirty minutes. Both stopped suddenly and bowed to each other then embraced in a passionate kiss. Sokka watched with his mouth hung open the whole time. Katara watched and then blushed when the kissed. Aang smiled at the spar.

"You guys were incredible. Is that some of the jutsu we talked about?" Aang asked in an excited voice.

Naruto and Hinata finally broke the kiss and looked at Aang as if bewildered. "That was taijutsu. Both the strong and gentle fist techniques. Hinata is of course better than I am in taijutsu. I am sure you have taijutsu. What styles do you have?" Naruto asked smiling at Aang while still a little out of breath.

"Well there are four styles that I know of. Each corresponds to an element. I know how the air style works if you like I could teach you." Aang responded smiling. "You might even be able to bend air if we are lucky."

Naruto smiled. "I do have wind affinity to my chakra so I am slanted to wind type jutsu. Hinata has a water affinity so she is more apt to water." Naruto said then seemed to have an idea. "We can help you figure out how to mold chakra and then we can find your affinity. Then we can train you to use jutsu. While Hinata can watch you bend and then we can figure out how and if we can also learn to bend the elements."

"That is a great idea." Aang said excitedly.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and watch Aang and Katara do some bending. "It is their chakra grabbing hold of the element and then using that element. Naruto release some chakra from your hand and with that chakra move your hand in a slicing pattern."

Naruto released come chakra from his hand and made a slicing motion. But nothing happened. "Hinata-chan, nothing happened."

"Naruto use your wind chakra this time." Hinata said as she watched.

Naruto concentrated then moved his arm and a small breeze came from his hand. Everyone's jaws dropped. Naruto continued to play with airbending for the rest of the day with Aang watching and trying to correct him when he was not doing the bending correctly.

Naruto smiled at Aang. "This is harder than it looks."

"You are making it look easy. I have been doing airbending for about nine years or so and was not able to bend air as quickly as you have when I first was taught. I think you and I should train so that I can improve and you can learn how to properly airbend." Aang said with a smile.

Hinata and Katara watched as the boys started to do airbender kata. After watching for about ten minutes Hinata walked over to a pond and stood on the surface. Katara just looked on in awe.

Suddenly small balls of water came up from the water and started to surround Hinata in a hemisphere shape. She started to move her arms and the water balls would break apart then reform. Her arms would move around her in graceful sweeps. Hinata increased the speed of her arms. First an after image of a second arm appeared. Hinata started to breathe heavily but continued for about three minutes then the water all flew away from her. Hinata then sunk to her knees and panted heavily.

"You have it almost down but still need to build stamina, don't you Hinata-chan?" Naruto commented with a huge smile while continuing the kata Aang was teaching him.

Hinata panted heavily but answered. "Yes, Naruto-kun, I am almost there. Also the water is freezing, and is taking a lot of energy to keep warm and also work with it." Hinata stood with a wobble and walked back to the shore of the pond.

Katara grabbed Hinata's arm as she got to the shore. "That was amazing."

Sokka looked dejected. "Great another bender. Am I the only NORMAL person here?"

"Guess so." Both Aang and Naruto said as one. This caused them both to laugh and lose track of the kata.

Katara and Hinata both giggled. "Hinata if Naruto can learn air bending and you seem to be able to use water. I don't see any reason you can't learn to waterbend. Would you like that? When we get to the North Pole we can learn from a master. But until then we can work together on waterbending. I will train you with what I know." Katara said while smiling at Hinata.

"That sounds good. We will in turn teach you how to use jutsu. But first we will have to work on your chakra." Hinata said smiling as she was able to get her breath more under control.

"Ok that is first set of kata, Naruto. Tomorrow we will work on the second set. There are sixteen in all." Aang said as he bowed to Naruto. "You are an excellent student."

"Thank you Aang-sensei." Naruto said as he returned the bow. "Now let's get over to the girls and work on your chakra and helping you learn the hand signs for leaning jutsu. But first… Shadow clone jutsu." Five Naruto appear and start working on the kata. "Now that will help me commit it to memory so that I can train my muscles later."

"I have to learn that one. Hey you didn't use a hand sign to do that jutsu. How did you do it?" Aang asked in surprise.

"Well when you get used to a jutsu, you eventually will not need to use hand signs to do it. As you can mentally form the chakra without the help of the hand signs. Right Hinata-chan?" Naruto smiled as he scratched his head and asked Hinata.

"Yes Naruto-kun. Ok all of you come here. Yes even you Sokka, you may just be able to do jutsu." Hinata said with a smile.

Sokka walked over to the rest of the group.

"Ok the first thing is that chakra is the energy that comes from our body's cells and it is also spiritual energy. Now I am going to give you a crash course in this so if you miss something ask." Hinata started to lecture.

"Sure… What are we doing?" Sokka asked incredulously.

Hinata ignored Sokka's comments, and continued. The next few hours were filled with what chakra was and how it was accessed and used. Surprisingly Sokka had an easier time with learning to focus his chakra than the others and he had had not training. Aang and Katara had to learn from scratch how to access their chakra as they were not used to doing this in any other way than by force of will. And they had been more focused on learning bending. Thus they had to learn two ways to work with chakra, and figure out how not to mix them up.

The next day Hinata and Naruto again began with their morning sparring match. Again they seemed to be evenly matched but Hinata was surprised when Naruto started to avoid attacks that would normally hit. Also his movements were not what she had come to expect from the love of her life. They stopped when he seemed to be able to avoid a lot of her attacks in a row.

"Naruto-kun? What was that?" Hinata asked as Naruto shrugged. "Did you add some moves to your taijutsu?"

"I don't know. Sorry Hinata-chan. Did I do something wrong?" Naruto said with a sorry look on his face.

"No Naruto-kun, you have been able to avoid more than the usual number of attacks. You have suddenly improved. Were you using some of the moves you learned from Aang?" Hinata asked barely able to contain her excitement.

"I don't know, it just felt right to use the maneuvers I used." Naruto said but was surprised when he was tackled by a smiling Hinata. She then smothered him with kisses.

Sokka came out and noticed them on the ground kissing. "Get a room you two." He turned and was thrown into a wall by a gust of wind. "Ouch! Aang why did you hit me with airbending?"

Aang walked out of the building scratching his head and yawning. "What do you mean Sokka? I just got up."

"But… but… but…" Sokka stuttered.

"What is Sokka complaining about?" Katara asked Aang as she came out after him.

Aang shrugged. "I don't know."

Training continued the rest of the day. The group left on Appa the next morning after training. They traveled for a week until they entered a town near the coast. They were found by a group of fire nation soldiers.

"Halt you are all under arrest in the name of the Fire Lord!" One of the soldiers yelled.

"Fire Lord? Fire Nation or Fire Country?" Naruto said as he got into a stance and looked at the fire emblems on their armor. The emblem was always a flame never a leaf. "Guess we are not near Konoha anymore…" Naruto whispered sadly.

"Fire Country? There is no Fire Country. Why do you insult the Fire Nation? For that you will die." The soldier moved into a fighting stance and extended his hand forward. A stream of fire left his fist and headed towards Naruto.

Naruto smiled. He shifted two meters to his right and two meters closer to the soldier in less than a second. "Could you hit me if I were closer?"

The angered soldier performed several hand thrusts sending fire balls at Naruto. He continued to dodge them deftly. "Hold still child and I will end your ignorance!" The soldier yelled.

Naruto was finally right in front of the soldier. "Man you are barely making me sweat with your weak attacks. Here maybe you can hit two targets. Shadow clone jutsu!" A second Naruto appears and started working on creating a Rasengan in Naruto's right hand.

"Holding still, you're making this too easy." The soldier said with a smile.

The soldier thrust his hand but was caught by Naruto's left hand. "You had your chance to hit me. You were too slow." Naruto produced a foxy grin. "My turn. RASENGAN!" Naruto yelled as he hit the soldier in the stomach with the rasengan, sending him spinning into the other dozen soldiers like waiting bowling pins. "Guess it is time to go. Ok, I got a dozen soldiers, how many did you get Sokka?" Naruto said as he walked over to and into Appa's saddle.

Sokka smacked his forehead. "How am I supposed to compete with that? I can barely do a clone. You can make shadow clones and that rasengan thingy."

"I can train you how to do it. But it took my dad three years to develop it." Naruto said as Appa took off heading out towards the ocean and away from the town they had just left.

"Three years? Hmm… How long did it take you to master it?" Sokka asked.

"Well, with the shadow clone, I was able to master it in a month." Naruto said as he sat in the saddle next to Hinata who kissed him on the cheek and smiled. Sokka just let his mouth hang open in shock.

"Naruto you know that was the fifth patrol that you beat single handedly. You might end up with a higher price on your head than me." Aang said as he laughed. "I wonder how Zuko is doing."

Several hundred miles away Zuko is going over a map it has several lines that zigzag around the island that has the southern air temple. "Uncle, what is the Avatar up too?"

Iroh smiled. "Well either he is a military genius or he is taking a tour of the lands. Either way we got off lucky with our last encounter. He only damaged the ship. General Zahn has lost about forty men to injuries when dealing with the Avatar and his party. We need to work more on your technique if you want to have any hope of defeating the Avatar my nephew. First let us have some Jade tea." Iroh said as he lifted a tea pot with a smile.

"Ah!! Uncle, my technique is fine I need to learn the advanced moves so that I can take on the Avatar!" Zuko yelled.

--

A/N: Meet the Kyoshi warriors next chapter… Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up and out. I have been busy with things. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. A little longer than usual and a little scattered at the end, sorry about that. We will see Zuko again and he gets to meet the most unpredictable, knuckleheaded ninja from Konoha. Until next chapter, also the next chapter will follow cannon a little bit but hey I have to have Sokka meet Suki. What else can I do?


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Avatar…

Chapter 11 – Back in Konoha…

Tsunade was happy but also angry. She had agreed to send out the missions going after Naruto after the council had declared him a missing nin. And no missions had been successful so far. The reason this made her happy was that it was showing her who in the ranks of Leaf shinobi were against Naruto. She had charged Baika and Sasuke with breaking the thirds law. The council let Baika go to prison but not Sasuke. He remained free. Ino had asked to be sent to Suna the day Naruto left asking to see Gaara and try to work with the Suna to help Naruto. And maybe get a different husband.

(Flashback)….

"Please Tsunade. Please send me to Suna. I really don't want to marry Sasuke." Ino pleaded on her hands and knees with Inoichi standing right behind her.

"Weren't you one of the fan girls that were so set on getting Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.

"At first I liked him. But eventually it became a game to help build up Sakura's confidence and annoy Sasuke. She was so self conscious and he was so pompous. I was her friend and wanted to help her. Eventually I got tired of the game of 'try to get his attention, only to be ignored.' You see Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, Lee or even Gaara, any of them would be better husband material, let alone boyfriend material." Ino said as she looked into Tsunade's eyes. "I do not want to marry Sasuke. I will not marry him. Even if the council tries to force me too, I would stand him up at the altar."

Tsunade chuckled at this development.

"Tsunade-hime, most of the ninja clans are against what the civilians and a couple of the clans did to Naruto. I for one am almost ready to take the Yamanaka clan out of Konoha and go to Suna. I have talked to some of the other clans. You know the Hyuuga were ready to leave with Naruto that day? Well, the Nara, Akamichi, and a couple other minor clans are nearly at that point. Lady Tsunade what can we do not to destroy Konoha?" Inoichi pleaded.

"You think I wanted Naruto to go? But I admit Hiashi did have a brilliant idea in marrying off Hinata to Naruto. From their last letter he appears to be falling in love with her, and I am happy for them. The council has done irreparable harm to the village. I in a certain way understand why the snake-teme wants to destroy it. My grandfather's dream is not going so well. I am almost ready to take all the clans and any civilians that will come with me and leave the village too. I am appalled at how they treated the son of their hero. And my adopted little brother." Tsunade said nearly in tears. (Yes the tears again…)

There was a knock at the door.

"Come!" Tsunade said as she looked sympathetically towards Ino. "Ah just the people I wanted to see."

Ino looked up to see Shikamaru, Choji and Asuma enter the room. Ino quickly wiped her eyes and stood.

"Asuma? Your team has been selected for a mission. Gaara has been designated as Kazekage-to-be. Your job is to escort Ino Yamanaka to Suna for negotiations." Tsunade looked at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, after you arrive, I have another job for you." Tsunade smiled evilly. "You are too try to help negotiations by dating Gaara's sister."

Shikamaru's eyes went wide but then he raised his hand to his head as he shook it. "Troublesome. How far do I have to go Lady Hokage?" Shikamaru asked.

Tsunade continued to smile. "As far as it takes for the mission to succeed."

"Does the mission entail a second marriage?" Shikamaru asked pointedly.

"The first one is up to Ino and Gaara to decide, and a second one is up you. Marriage to a Kage-to-be is more important to this village's diplomatic relations than bringing a clan back. Okay you may leave whenever you are ready." Tsunade said smiling.

Ino walked over to Tsunade and wrapped her in a hug. "Thank you Tsunade-sama."

"Yes, thank you Tsunade-sama. The council has put too much emphasis on one person and not enough on the village. Naruto Uzumaki was and is a more valuable asset to this village than Sasuke Uchiha. I just don't understand why the council chose a dying clan over the son of a Hokage, and our most revered one at that." Inoichi said shaking his head.

"The village was prejudice against Naruto from the start. He did well to get as far as he did." Shikamaru said as he smirked.

"What's worse is that several of our allied nations have heard about this exile and are quite mad at Konoha. The Lands of Wave, Tea, Snow, Bird, and a couple others were saved by Naruto or a team he was on, but with Naruto putting the most effort into it or being seen as the one who actually succeeded. Given this a lot of contracts we normally would get from these sources are going to other villages. Did you know that Naruto is the reason I am here?" Tsunade said as everyone in the room was shocked to hear that Naruto was the major reason she was Hokage. "The little brat struck a chord in me to want to make sure he became Hokage. Now I am not so sure he may have a village to come back too, or a village that wants him to be their Hokage."

Team ten got packed up and went to Suna later that day.

Ino seemed so happy to be leaving Konoha that Shikamaru even smiled.

(End flashback)….

In the Uchiha compound Sasuke was in the shower. "Jeez Sakura aren't you pregnant yet?" Sasuke asked as he nearly whined. "We have done it like five times…"

Sakura looked frustrated as she sat in the bed with the coverers in her armpits. "Sasuke-kun… We won't know for a little bit. And this is only the first week." Sakura whined. 'It doesn't help that you haven't reached puberty yet, jerk. The body functions but cannot produce offspring yet. For a genius he isn't that smart. Not bad in bed but not that smart when it comes to women.'

Sasuke just shook his head 'creating a clan. Is, how would Shikamaru put it? Troublesome…' "Sakura… Where is Ino? I have not seen her. I thought she would want to also help with starting the clan as soon as possible." 'How annoying.'

Ino sneezed as she walked in Suna near the Kazekage's office. 'Damn Sasuke-teme.' Sasuke sneezed.

An hour later Sasuke and Sakura walked into Tsunade's office. "So what do I owe the pleasure of this visit Uchiha-san?"

"Check her out and see if she is pregnant yet." Sasuke said as he pointed a thumb towards Sakura.

Tsunade looked shocked. "You two didn't?"

Sakura blushed and smiled. "Yes ma'am, five times in the last week." Sakura said proudly.

Sasuke looked annoyed.

Tsunade folded her hands in front of herself. "Why not go to the hospital. Why are you bothering me the Hokage? I also have two problems with your request Sasuke." Tsunade said with annoyance in her voice.

"Yes and so what are they?" Sasuke said with an annoyed look on his face.

"First you are both too young to be having children, you are just thirteen. Second I am not your personal doctor or nurse." Tsunade stood up and looked angry. "Also you are talking to your Hokage in a disrespectful tone. ANBU remove the Uchiha and place him in a cell for a day so that he can think over what he has done. Sakura, go to the hospital and have a full exam. That is all!" Tsunade said as two ANBU grabbed Sasuke and hauled him off to Ibiki. Sakura walked to the Hospital sulking.

Tsunade smiled as she had gotten Sasuke Uchiha twice in one day. This was starting to be a good day. Also Naruto's report should be coming today, delivered by Gamakichi. A knock on the glass of her office brought a big smile to her face. "You're right on time Gamakichi." She opened the window to allow the orange toad entry to her office.

"Yo toots. Got the latest from the kid. Man is he far away." Gamakichi said with a smile on his face.

"So did he make it to the Snow country?" Tsunade said as Shizune entered with more paperwork.

"Did you send Sasuke to Ibiki, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked, she then noticed the toad. "Hi Gamakichi, how are you today? Do you have the latest from Naruto and Hinata?"

"You know it, fresh from his pen. It is kind of funny though. He summoned me to a different place. I am not even sure he is even here anymore." Gamakichi said as he handed Tsunade the scroll.

"Hm… let's see what we have here…" Tsunade said to no one in particular as she opened the scroll. "What the hell?" Tsunade slammed the scroll on the desk.

"What is wrong Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked, almost frightened.

"Get Jiriaya in here now!" Tsunade yelled as she looked back down to read more.

_Hey bachan,_

_We may have a problem. Hinata-hime and I are doing well. We just don't know where we are. I was working on one of the 'Flying Thunder God' seals and we got pulled into a vortex. It shouldn't have happened at all. I woke up injured. According to Hinata-hime we were pulled through something. I hit a wall rather hard. It took fluffy a day to heal me. We met some new people and they seem nice. One is an Avatar, seems to be an all powerful being here, not sure what they mean by it though. Also Aang, the Avatar, met fluffy in person. I have no clue how he was able to come into my mind and meet fluffy but he did. Aang, Katara, and Sokka seem to have no knowledge of jutsu, but they can perform the neatest stuff. They call it bending, but it is similar to jutsu. They appear to only use four elements instead of five we do. They use Air, Fire, Earth and Water as the elements they can manipulate, and I mean manipulate. Hinata-hime says they use some chakra to do it but they are not using seals. I am trading jutsu for bending knowledge. _

_On a personal note… I think I have finally fallen for Hinata-hime. She is everything to me. I could no longer live without her. You can tell that teme council that they will have hell to pay for what they did. I have a plan if and when I get back. _

_Naruto Uzumaki, the Sixth Hokage._

Tsunade sighed and giggled as she finished the scroll. She unsealed the second scroll the one meant for the council to read. It was a bunch of random prattling about snow and how it was cold and bothered both Hinata and Naruto. She waited to unseal the third scroll from the scroll until Jiraiya arrived.

Jiriaya entered the room quickly letting Shizune close the door behind him.

"Tsunade-sama, we got the report back from Sakura's tests." Shizune was giggling. Tsunade and Jiriaya looked at her quizzically. "Sasuke is not going to produce any heirs any time soon."

"And why is that? Is he shooting blanks?" Jiriaya said with a chuckle.

"In a way yes he is." Shizune said as if challenging the Sannin to try to guess what was wrong with Sasuke.

"Out with it Shizune." Tsunade said impatiently.

"Sasuke is not ready to produce children. He still had not hit puberty. Sasuke isn't even shooting." Shizune said as she tried to muffle her laugh.

Tsunade, Jiriaya and Gamakichi all laughed so hard they nearly passed out. "So Sakura has been basically practicing without any chance of getting pregnant?"

"Yes ma'am. Ibiki confirmed it when he strip searched him for his day of detainment for his disrespecting the Hokage." Shizune said with a big smile. "Oh Sakura asked if she could study medical jutsu under me. I told her she would have to ask someone else as I would not allow her to train under me because of the way she treated Naruto-kun."

"I totally agree with you, what she did to Naruto was appalling." Tsunade frowned, and then her expression turned to a smile. "My little brother deserved better, and now he has it. On that subject, the reason we have not been able to locate them is because they have been pulled into a seal of some sorts. I have no idea what that means, that is why I wanted you to be here Jiriaya." Tsunade unsealed the third seal, which contained four scrolls and one was slightly burnt. "This I believe is the notes and information Naruto and fluffy were able to figure out when a seal he was working on pulled Naruto and Hinata into it."

Jiriaya looked at the scrolls. "He has gotten much better at taking notes, and his theory is incredible. He may just be right that they are not on this world any more. He also notes that jutsu and chakra are behaving a little differently, not a lot but just enough that elemental manipulation is a little easier. If he and Hinata can master this bending he is writing about he will have new powers that will make the best jutsu users pale in comparison. I am not even sure we could do what he is doing now. He only has notes on Air and Water, apparently he has found an air master, and the water sensei is only a novice but improving."

Jiriaya looks at the burned scroll. "I see which one he was working on. Gamakichi I will have a scroll for him next week with my findings."

"Right ero-sannin." Gamakichi said as he took a scroll from Tsunade and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Why that little…" Jiriaya said in a rage as Tsunade interrupted him.

"Stow it!" Tsunade said angrily. "Now let's go over all this information and then give the council the bogus letter." Tsunade said with a smile. "We can show Hiashi the real one later."

"Are you always this quiet?" Ino asked the red headed boy holding her hand as they walked down the road in Suna.

"I only say what I need too. Nothing more, nothing less." Gaara said quietly with a slight smile. "Why do you insist on holding my hand?"

"Do you not like it Gaara?" Ino said almost pouting.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "No, it is not that. It is just that you are holding hands with a monster."

Ino shocked looked at Gaara as a single tear ran down her face. "You are not a monster. Gaara-kun, you were abused and neglected. Naruto-kun showed us both that we are people and we all need kindness." Ino whispered quietly to Gaara.

Gaara wiped the tear from her face, surprised that she did not flinch at his touch. "Why are you not scared of me?"

"I looked into your eyes. They are not the same eyes you had during the chunin exams. They are sad, not evil and bloodthirsty like they were then. You have changed. We have known each other a week now. I admit that I first came here to avoid marrying Sasuke, I figured you would be an easy catch." Ino looked down and shook her head. "You are not a catch, at least not in that sense. You in a lot of ways are a child who missed out on life, and love." She looked over at Temari and smiled weakly. "I know your siblings care a lot about you, they were also scared of you, but they did and still do care what happened to you. I have come to care about you too, Gaara."

Gaara smiled, actually smiled a genuine smile, not an evil one. "You still did not answer my question Ino-chan."

"Should I be scared?" Ino said with a smile.

Gaara shook his head. "How soon before you are married to the Uchiha?"

"Never, if I have anything to say about it." Ino said angrily.

"You do not like him?" Gaara asked.

"We have been over this before Gaara-kun. He was not nice to Naruto-kun, and is using Sakura-chan. I don't understand what people now see in him. He abandoned the village spills village secrets and is still given the run of the shop. Did you hear the council declared Naruto a missing nin even though they exiled him." Ino said frustrated.

"Ino-chan. Do you think a political marriage between us would work?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know but we could make it work. I like you, I really do. In time it might become love. What do you say? Would you like to try?" Ino asked.

"Hey sister, no funny stuff with my brother until you are married to him." Temari broke in.

Ino turned to the other blond and looked her right in the eyes. "I wasn't talking about that. I wanted to know how Gaara-kun felt about setting up the marriage not finalizing it."

"Oh, sorry my mind got ahead of me." Temari replied while she blushed. Shikamaru only could shake his head.

"Temari-chan, we have a few years to figure this out. There is no rush, unless Sasuke tries something. Right now I am just enjoying getting to know Gaara-kun." Ino smiled and kissed Gaara's cheek.

Temari and Shikamaru stopped and looked dumbfounded.

--

A/N: Back to Avatar world next chapter. Just thought a trip back to Konoha would be entertaining. Sorry about no Zuko this chapter… Will be next chapter… My muse told me to go to Konoha and I did, don't fight the muse, never fight the muse…. Suki, Zuko and one hell of an a whooping next chapter or maybe the next. I wanted to show that life has changed without our lovable ninja… And OH BOY is the council in for it…. But that is for later down the road… like a few years… Naruto needs to help the Avatar and the Avatar needs to train Naruto. :D


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Avatar the last air bender.

Warning: This chapter contains adult content, lime or low level lemon.

Sorry it took so long to post I was having problems with getting the lime just right.

Chapter 12 – Kyoshi Island…

The group continued to train as they hit Aang's tourist spots. While they were on Appa they would have limited contact taijutsu training. Naruto had gotten through the third set of kata for airbenders. Hinata had gotten to the same level as Katara the fourth set of kata for waterbenders. Aang had gotten down the first set of waterbending kata. The next stop was Kyoshi Island where a former incarnation of the Avatar had lived. Aang wanted to ride the elephant coy fish.

"Aang-kun, we need to do some private practicing if that is ok with you, Katara-chan and Sokka-kun." Hinata asked politely as she blushed.

"Sure we should be an hour or more riding the coy fish. So you can do your private training. Right Katara?" Aang asked with a smile to Katara.

Katara looked bored as Sokka handed her his pants to repair. "That should be fine Hinata. We need to get some supplies if we can also."

Aang had an idea. "Momo, marbles please." Aang asked as Momo entered his shirt and came out with a couple marbles. "Hey Katara want to see an airbender trick?" Aang spun the marbles in the air between his hands.

"That's nice Aang." Katara said as she continued to sew up Sokka's pants.

"But you weren't even looking." Aang said sadly as he stopped the marbles.

Katara turned to Aang. "That's nice Aang."

"That's not fair I wasn't doing anything." Aang complained.

Hinata and Naruto giggled.

Sokka got angry at Aang bothering Katara. "Hey leave her alone. She is doing woman's work."

Naruto got a look of fear on his face while Hinata showed an angry look. Sokka did not pay attention until Katara spoke. "Woman's work? You mean sewing your pants? Look here I am done." She threw his pants at him.

"Wait that is not fair they still have a hole in them." Sokka stuck his hand through the hole in the crotch still wide enough for his fist.

Naruto chuckled. "You know you should learn to sew, I can do it. Seeing as how I had so few changes in clothes and always had to repair them." Naruto said with a sad look on his face. Hinata kissed him full on the lips and then rubbed his back.

"Okay you can finish the job for her." Sokka said smiling until he saw Naruto's eyes become red pupils with slits. "Okay then maybe not. Katara how do I sew?"

Hinata and Katara laughed at Sokka expense.

"You use a needle and thread." Naruto said with a growl.

The next several hours were spent in silence as they approached an island. Appa landed and Aang started to undress. Naruto and Hinata headed down the beach. Katara watched Aang and blushed. "What are you doing?" Katara pleaded.

"I am going to ride the coy fish." Aang said as he ran to the water and dove in. He suddenly sprung out of the water. "COLD!!"

Suddenly a coy fish the size of a large elephant surfaced. Aang appeared to be riding on the back of one of them. Aang was enjoying the ride as Katara watched his bravery and blushed. Appa went off and started to eat some bushes, Katara followed him yelling, "Appa don't eat that!"

Aang saw this and thought she was not entertained by his stunt. He didn't notice a shadow in the water that grabbed one of the other coy that were swimming beside the one he rode.

Sokka saw this happen and yelled at Aang to get out of the water. Katara saw the last coy being dragged backwards and also yelled at Aang. "Get out of the water!"

Aang saw them waving and waved back. Suddenly the coy he was ridding was pulled out from underneath him. He looked up and saw a huge serpent diving at him Aang jumped out of the water and ran across it using airbending to get away from the large creature. He didn't quite make it to shore before the animal hit the water swamping him causing him to be knocked unconscious. Katara had already pulled off her coat and waded into the water to recover Aang. Seeing as she could not get to shore fast enough swimming she used waterbending to throw herself and Aang onto the beach.

The large serpent looks at the group and then dived below the water's surface.

Katara noticed Aang not breathing. She rolled him off of her and used waterbending to remove the water from his lungs. She saw him start to stir and turned him on his side as he coughed the rest of the water out of his lungs. "Are you ok Aang?" Katara asked with a worried look on her face.

Aang shook off nearly drowning. "Thanks Katara you saved me."He said with a blush on his face.

"Okay, will you please put your clothes back on now?" Sokka asked as both Katara and Aang blushed.

Just as Aang had finished putting back on his clothes on as several people jumped out of the trees. Aang dropped into a defensive stance only to have rope wrapped around his body and a bag put over his head. Sokka threw right fist as one of the assailants only to have it pulled and turned behind him and his other hands were tied behind him and his head was also covered. Momo attempted to jump and fly away to only be caught in a bag. Katara attempted to stand as a bag covered her face. She was also then bound with ropes.

-- (Beginning lime (adult content))

Naruto and Hinata were walking a mile down the beach holding hands and smiling at one another. Naruto knew this training well, as he and Hinata had done it several times as they proceeded between villages. The reason they left the others is that it needed to be done in privacy. Naruto hated and loved this training. He loved it because Hinata was beautiful loving and kind. He hated it because he could not help the nose bleeds and the erections the training caused. He was not sure if he should admit his love for her just yet. He was worried at how she would accept the information. She might think that he was taking advantage of the training or might accepted for what it was, his blooming love for her.

They went a couple miles down the shore. Hinata made sure no one was near with her Byakugan. Naruto sniffed the breeze and found no other scents. They proceeded to disrobe. They walked onto the water in the protected bay. She would always smile and then the nose bleeds started. They both had them.

"Okay Naruto-kun, first set on my clone." Hinata said as she created a shadow clone.

Naruto nodded as he got into what looked like a crude juken stance. Hinata's shadow clone transformed in to Sasuke and walked up to Naruto. Naruto's anger flared. "You within my range, Eight trigrams, thirty-two palms." Naruto said as a pattern on the water showing a yin and yang symbol, a couple concentric circles with kanji markings on the lines. Naruto proceeded to hit the clone two times, then four, eight, sixteen, and then thirty-two times the clone then dissipated.

Hinata smiled from ear to ear. "Perfect Naruto-kun, now for the next set." Drops of water rose from the water surrounding Hinata, they turned into senbon and flew towards Naruto.

Naruto started to spin and released chakra. "Eight divinations, Heavenly spin." Naruto performed a perfect Kaiten deflecting all of the senbon. Naruto smiled covered in water. "Your turn."

Hinata nodded and raised her right hand. A ball of swirling chakra formed, she pushed it down into the water causing a fountain of water flying around her. "Rasengan!" She became drenched by the fountain of water.

Naruto smiled and yelled, "Perfect!"

"Now the next set, I know this is the hardest but please try Naruto-kun." Hinata said as she had an unusual look and a smile on her face.

Naruto could not place the look but stood still with his right hand raised. Wind stared to blow around him and water droplets started to rise from the water as Hinata watched in awe. "Guardian Eight Divinations Signs, Sixty-four Palms." Naruto said as his hands move and a chakra thread comes out of his he moved his hands started to blur as they moved quickly. The thread while over two inches wide cut the water drops as he worked the jutsu. Naruto stopped as he was breathing hard. He saw Hinata running at him. He smiled and felt himself harden. This embarrassed him as they were supposed to be training not him looking passionately at Hinata. She suddenly jumped up and wrapped her legs around him.

The close contact caused his erection to harden even more. Hinata kissed him as she started to slide down his wet body. There was contact as she slid down she felt something cold and hard enter her, this caused her to let out an 'EEP!'. Naruto felt his erection being enveloped by warmth as she slid down him.

He suddenly realized what was going on and broke the kiss and looked directly into her eyes.

She smiled and looked into his eyes. "Do you love me?"

Naruto smiled kindly. "With all my heart, Hinata-hime, with all my heart."

"Hold me for a second then we can finish what we have just started." Hinata asked as Naruto wrapped his arms around her and let her perform several hand signs. "Okay I am done." She smiled.

Naruto loosened his grip as she slid the final distance so that they connected at the hips. Naruto looked concerned as he asked. "Did it hurt?"

Hinata smiled warmly. "No not much at all. It actually felt kind of weird but good. Do you want to continue here on the water or on the beach?" She kissed him and slowly rocked her hips.

Naruto's mind started to go fuzzy and he felt cold running up his feet. He opened his eyes and saw that his feet had sunk nearly to the knees. "Um, Hinata-hime… I am enjoying being with you but my concentration is going to pot, look."

Hinata looked down to see that Naruto's legs had sunk to mid calf. Hinata nodded and dismounted Naruto. They then ran to the beach holding hands. Naruto retrieved a couple scrolls for his stuff and produced a tent, a sleeping bag, a couple of towels and tub of water. They put their stuff in the tent and then rinsed themselves off. They entered the tent and got into their sleeping bag. They spent the next hour enjoying the giving each other pleasure. Naruto was tired but was happy. Naruto was also confused. "Hinata, I love you. But why today? Why did we do this today?"

"It just happened. You love me and I wanted you to know that I love you too. We are married after all. So now we have consummated the marriage. You are mine Uzumaki Naruto, now and forever." Hinata said as she kissed him deeply.

Naruto heard a loud chuckle in his head. He ignored it as he returned the kiss and they went back to another round of consummating their marriage, oblivious to what had happened to Aang and the others.

-- (End lime (adult) content)

Aang, Katara, Sokka and Momo were tied against the same pole. Aang, Katara and Sokka felt themselves tied to a post. Their hoods were removed. An old man and a girl dressed in green fighting kimono wearing heavy white and red makeup looked at the group. "We should kill them now as fire nation spies." The girl said angrily.

"Alright I want to know who the guys were that jumped me." Sokka demanded as the bag on his head was removed.

He saw an elderly man and a girl dressed in a green and gold battle kimono, Sokka did not know that she wore a battle kimono.

"So… Where are the guys who captured us?" Sokka asked annoyed.

Aang and Katara just shook their heads as they remembered the beating that Hinata had given Sokka only a few days earlier.

"Guys? Do you mean men?" The girl asked very agitated.

"Yeah, because there is no way a girl like you could capture us." Sokka said arrogantly.

"Oh really and why is that?" The girl asked as she stroked his ego ready to crush it in a moment.

"Because he is the Avatar and it would take a lot of guys to ambush and capture us." Sokka boasted.

"No men are taught how to fight here. Only females are allowed to learn how to fight." The girl looked over both Aang and Katara, they both smiled kindly. "Neither one looks like the Avatar to me."

"Well, let me see." The older gentleman said. "Let us see, he is supposed to be an airbender. Tattoos, airbender clothing. What proof do you have of you being the Avatar?"

Aang took a deep breath and stretched the ropes. Aang then pointed his mouth down and blew himself straight up into the air above the top of the pole. He lightly descended back to the ground and lightly touched the ground. "Do you need any more proof?" Aang asked as pulled out a couple of marbles and started them spinning in between his hands.

"Well I am convinced." The old man replied.

"Okay but I am keeping my eye on you." The girl exclaimed.

The town became excited that they had the latest incarnation of the Avatar. They cleaned up the statue of Kyoshi, the former Avatar. Aang started to get the VIP treatment. Naruto and Hinata walked into town a few hours later arm in arm, smiling from ear to ear. They seemed to notice just about nothing other than each other. Some of the villager found it strange for two reasons, one they had never seen a blond before and two a blind girl seemed to be looking at said blond.

Naruto and Hinata had discussed having sex with each other after having just had it. They agreed that it was nearly incredible but they should wait before having it again till they would be better equipped to handle children somewhere around sixteen or eighteen. They could wait as they were still young and still had a lot of training to do. They met up with Katara who seem a little annoyed at Aang who seemed to be followed by just about every girl in town other than the Kyoshi warriors and Katara.

"I can tell you feel something for Aang. He's not going anywhere and the girls will tire of his antics. They are chasing him because he is the Avatar. You follow him because he is Aang. You admire him as Avatar but love him because he is Aang." Hinata said gently.

Katara blushed. "What? I don't love him… He is just a friend…"

Hinata only smiled.

Sokka had found the Kyoshi warrior's training hall and watched the girls go through what looked like dancing but Naruto could tell it was kata. Naruto had followed Sokka so that Hinata and Katara could talk as he could tell that Katara was troubled by all the attention Aang was getting from the local girls. "So what do you call that dance?" Sokka said sarcastically.

The lead girl looked annoyed, she was the one that they had initially met at the pole. "These are not dance moves they are kata meant to improve our discipline and our fighting ability."

"I was thought of as the best fighter in my village. Mine if I spar with you?" Sokka asked.

"I don't know. What do you think girls? Do I have a chance against a strapping man like him?" The girl teased, as the other girls giggled.

"I am sure I could teach you a few moves." Sokka said as he stretched his shoulders. Naruto watched and just shook his head.

"Okay, now go easy on me. I am only a girl after all." The girl again teased.

Sokka go into a stance and Naruto only looked on in horror as the girl took on her stance. 'Sokka you are so dead. Your stance is weak and open. Her stance is solid and ready to either attack or defend. I bet with your first punch you will be out of position.' Naruto thought.

Sokka threw a punch and overshot his target. The girl turned his arm down and caused Sokka to stumble. "Lucky block, I bet you can't do that again." Sokka said with a smile, Naruto started to chuckle.

Sokka got into ready position again. The girl changed stance a little but it was enough for Naruto to notice. Sokka again threw a punch this time the girl slid under his punch turned and threw Sokka out of the dojo and near the tree Naruto was sitting in. "Boy you sure showed her. Guess you are ready to take on Hinata-hime." Naruto said as he rolled down the branch to hang upside down and looked at Sokka. "You didn't learn your lesson on girls fighting did you?" Naruto whispered.

Sokka looked dejected. He stood gave an annoyed glance at Naruto and walked back into the dojo. He walked up to the girl and bowed deeply. "My name is Sokka. I am deeply sorry for insulting you and your ways. You are indeed a better fighter than me. Could you please teach me?" Sokka said with deep reverence.

"I don't know. As a rule we do not teach men." The girl looked back at the other girls who just giggled. "My name is Suki. There is only one way you can be taught by us. You have to follow all, and I mean all the rules and traditions of the Kyoshi. Do you agree to that?" Suki asked with a smile. "Your friend can join us too if he likes." Suki said as she waved at Naruto.

"If I may watch that would be fine with me. I find taijutsu style interesting, but I am learning airbending style right now and do not want to taint my training." Naruto said with a bow.

"You are cute too, so you may watch. Ladies we need to prepare Sokka to become a warrior." Suki said with an evil smile on her face which caused Sokka to wonder what he had gotten himself into. Ten minutes later Sokka was in makeup and a green battle kimono.

"A dress? Why do I have to wear a dress?" Sokka whined.

"That is not a dress it is a battle kimono. And remember you agreed to the terms and that means you have to wear that kimono." Suki replied with her hands on her hips.

Over the next week the group did their own things. Naruto watched Sokka improve greatly as he worked personally with Suki. Naruto and Hinata had a couple other sparing sessions but they made sure not to end up in a compromising position. The town found out that Naruto and Hinata were married and were happy for the young couple, but sad that Hinata appeared to be blind. Hinata and Katara spent some time working on her water bending practice. Naruto was only able to improve his kata as Aang was too busy dealing with fan girls. Eventually Aang had worn the fan girls out with him being himself.

--

In a final bid to impress the girls Aang was going to go elephant koi riding again. Katara heard about this and went to the beach as Aang waited in the water for an elephant koi to appear. The other girls got tired of waiting but Katara decided to sit and wait for Aang to get tired and come back to shore. She noticed a dark shape in the water and yelled "Aang watch out!"

Her call came too late at the Unagi surfaced with Aang holding onto one of its feelers near its gaping maw. As Aang continued to try to avoid being eaten he saw a ship pull into another cove of the island, it was a fire nation ship. "Oh no…" Aang said as he jumped up onto the Unagi's head and then jumped for the shore. He landed on the water and was in full sprint as he skidded to a stop on the shore.

"Are you alright Aang?" Katara asked worriedly.

"I am fine but we need to get back to the village. The fire nation is here." Aang said angrily.

--

Naruto had taken Hinata to train near a waterfall he had seen. They sensed something was wrong and headed back to the village.

--

Back in the village Sokka and Suki were practicing as they heard a voice coming from the center of the village. The voice sent chills down Sokka's spine.

"Bring me the Avatar! Or I will burn your village down to the ground." Zuko demanded from on top of his battle rhino.

"We do not have the Avatar." The old man said to Zuko. "But you are welcome in our village if you are peaceful."

"I know he is here, now send him out!" Zuko demanded as he nodded to the others with him. They lit the mini catapults attached to their rhinos and fired them at close buildings causing the thatch in the roofs to catch fire. "Do I have to burn every one of the houses down to get you do as I ask?"

"You will stop your attacks on our village!" Suki said to Zuko in a battle stance.

"So all they can send after us are a bunch of girls?" Zuko quipped.

Several of the rhino riders were dismounted by other Kyoshi warriors. "Seems like the girls are better than Fire Nation soldiers." Suki answered and caused Zuko to anger.

Sokka jumped down from a building and almost dismounted Zuko from his rhino. Suki got a hold of the saddle and cut the strap and Zuko fell down off his rhino.

"Be careful Suki he is a firebender." Sokka worriedly told Suki.

"You will pay for that girl." Zuko said as he picked himself up off the ground.

Zuko took a stance and was surrounded by Kyoshi warriors. Zuko easily took down or disabled several of the Kyoshi warriors with little effort. He was having a problem with Sokka and Suki. They seemed to work as a well oiled team one would attack while the other attempted to distract Zuko. This worked for a few minutes but Sokka was hit in the leg and burnt. Suki retreated, taking Sokka with her.

"Is that all you can muster? Just a few girls?" Zuko demanded.

"You like to pick on girls?" A voice came from behind Zuko. "My wife would love to kick your ass but she is kind of busy fixing the mess you have made. So I guess it is up to me to fix your attitude problem. "

Zuko turned to see a boy about his age with yellow or golden hair. He could not tell which as he had never seen someone with that color hair. "Who are you?"

"I am Uzumaki Namikaze Hyuuga Naruto, husband of Uzumaki Hyuuga Hinata and the next Hokage. Oh by the way I am the guy that is going to kick your ass." Naruto said boastfully.

Zuko changed his stance and took a more serious look on his face. "Bring it on golden boy."

Naruto smiled and scratched his head. "That is a new one." Naruto laugh and took a taijutsu stance. "You want to make the first move or shall I?"

"I am after the Avatar and nothing will stop me." Zuko said angrily.

Naruto saw several Fire Nation troops backing Zuko up. "So you like to have superior number? Against me you would need at least a thousand men." Naruto said as he crossed his middle and index fingers on both hands making a cross hand sign. "Here is a little trick I have to even the odds. Shadow Clone Jutsu." There were an equal number of Naruto as there were Fire Nation soldiers. "Okay you guys take them, the stuck up prick is mine." A round of 'Got it boss!' was heard as the clones ran at the other solders. "Okay can you top that move?" Naruto asked.

"What do you mean that was impossible." Zuko said, but then shook of his initial shock. "All I have to do is defeat you to win this battle and get to the Avatar."

Zuko struck at Naruto who easily sidestepped the fireball launched at him. "That was neat. Can you teach me that? Wait you are the bad guy. I will just have to beat you and worry about learning it later." Naruto disappeared from Zuko's sight.

Naruto reappeared right in front of Zuko. Zuko on instinct alone dodged the first punch but was sent back three meters by the second punch. He looked around to see all his soldiers were unconscious. He did see more coming. "How did you do that?"

"Naruto-kun! It is time to go!" A dark haired girl with white eyes called to Naruto. She moved with so much grace that Zuko had to know who she was.

"Okay Hinata-hime, I am coming!" Naruto had turned and replied to Hinata. Zuko saw this as the opportunity to strike he pushed fire out of his foot using bending. He saw Naruto dodge the fireball in a way he had seen before.

Naruto and Hinata caught up with Sokka, Katara, and Aang on Appa as they flew off. Hinata had dowsed most of the fires. Aang looked back at the village sadly. He then saw a shadow in the water and dived in. "Aang?" Katara screamed.

Aang hit the water and appeared on the head of the Unagi a moment later. The Unagi sent a stream of water at the village dowsing the last of the fires. This also woke the unconscious soldiers and soaked Zuko. "Get the rhinos and we are going after the Avatar." Zuko said as he fumed. The Fire Nation packed up and followed Appa as best as they could.

--

A/N: Again sorry for the delay in posting as the lime took a while to get it right in my opinion, also my first. So how did you like the one punch humiliation of Zuko?

As far as I can tell the story will progress normally now. I am not sure how long it will take for me to post the next chapter as I am working on so many stories and want to keep them straight. Also my muse forced me to work on the others… sorry… Next chapter will be off from cannon in Avatar but should be fun.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Avatar the last airbender and Naruto are not owned by me… Enough of the small talk more Sakura/Sasuke/elders bashing… muhahahaha

Chapter 13 – Trouble in paradise…

Pain looked on at Kisame and Itachi with annoyance. "Where is Uzumaki Naruto? He should be easy to find. He was banished for five years and you could not find him anywhere?"

Kisame laughed. "Well, we looked in the Snow country and found no trace of him or his Hyuuga wench. Where would you like us to look for him?"

Pain sighed. "We will have to wait for him to turn up so that we can start to collect the Bijuu. I guess you should go to Konoha and dig up some information." Pain smiled. "While you are there you can give your brother another lesson in humility."

"That is not what I want to do with him. We will go to Konoha. Come Kisame." Itachi almost ordered.

"Darn I wanted to watch Tobi annoy Deidara some more." Kisame nodded with a huge grin.

--

"Gaara-kun…." This sound caused Kankurou to cringe, as Ino called to Gaara.

'This woman is driving me insane. But I have not seen Gaara smile so much before. Gaara even told me he slept last night. I hope he is not going overboard with this woman.' Kankurou thought.

"Yes Ino-chan, what is it that you want?" Gaara replied in a monotone voice.

Ino smiled as she approached Gaara. "I was thinking about what you said last night."

"And what is your decision?" Gaara asked.

"We have to meet with father first. I am sure the Hokage will approve of it but she will have to convince the council." Ino replied.

"I am already slated to become the next Kazekage. I will go with you to talk to the Konoha council. I will not promise that I will not kill some of them." Gaara said angrily.

"As long as you leave out several of the clan heads you should be fine in killing whomever on the council you like." Ino said as she smiled slyly.

"We received word from both the Hokage and Naruto today. Apparently Hinata wrote something for you and you alone. Shall we retire to the house and read the letters Ino-chan?" Gaara said with a smile.

Ino grabbed Gaara's hand and they walked to the house with her head leaning on his shoulder. Kankurou was sick of how sappy this whole affair was becoming.

They entered the house and took off their cloaks and set them on the hangers in the entry closet. Gaara then proceeded to guide Ino to the couch and they both sat down. "Here the letter from Hinata for you Ino-chan." Gaara said as he handed the scroll to Ino.

Ino read the scroll as Gaara read one from Naruto. Kankurou sat in the chair across from them and watched as both of their eyes became saucers. Ino smiled the biggest grin Kankurou had ever seen on her. Gaara's jaw dropped and so did the scroll. Gaara and Ino looked at each other. To Kankurou it was as if they were speaking without saying a word.

Gaara looked at Ino and drew his head back as if to ask 'Did they actually do that'. Ino moved forward and nodded her head as if to say 'Yes I think they did.' They both then looked directly ahead and fell back into the couch as if exhaustion had hit them. Kankurou watched this and was flabbergasted.

"Okay what did they say?" Kankurou asked not wanting to wait any longer for them to tell him what was going on.

As one Gaara and Ino replied, "They are officially married now and there is no going back." Their eyes were still in the shape of saucers.

"So the gaki got lucky. Good for him. I knew the first report was wrong and forced. So did they enjoy themselves?" Temari asked with a smile. Gaara and Ino both handed Temari their scrolls. Temari read both scrolls and smiled broadly. "Well I am happy they are in love. Now if we can get you two to agree to marry we can put another nail that Uchiha's coffin." Temari smirked.

Ino suddenly came out of her shock and looked at Gaara. "Gaara-kun?"

Gaara looked at Ino. "Yes Ino-chan."

Ino looked depressed. "Do you think we will ever be in love like that?" Ino looked longingly at Gaara.

"Maybe not but you guys could go upstairs and join the club." Kankurou said snidely. Kankurou then suddenly flew into the side wall and made an indentation of his face.

"Baka, my little brother is not going to sleep with Ino-chan until they are properly married." Temari looked directly at Ino with a kind smile. "Right Ino-chan?"

Ino had gotten up and picked Kankurou up by the scruff the neck and held him up. "You are going to imply that I would sleep with Gaara-kun out of wedlock?" Ino asked angrily.

"Well… I was just saying that you guys could…" Kankurou tried to explain his stupid remarks, but was again sent into the wall, this time Ino punched him in the gut making a large indentation in the wall.

Ino was now in his face as sand was slowly covering Kankurou. "How could you imply that I would not honor Gaara-kun by waiting until we were married?"

"Kankurou, you remember when I said you were a disgrace to the village again that I would kill you?" Gaara asked with a smile that disturbed but pleased both of the women present.

"Yes, Gaara I do remember… Oh sh…" Kankurou said just as he screamed at the top of his lungs in pain.

--

"Are you sure you're not using a contraceptive jutsu?" Sasuke asked Sakura as they walked down the street.

Sakura got a tick in near her right eye. "How many times do I have to tell you? You have to finish going through puberty to produce sperm. You only started it last week, and it was a few hairs, jeez. It will take several months before you produce sperm. And even then we will want to wait to have children. My body is not yet ready to carry a child." Sakura replied.

There was a small scream heard in the background. (Yes this was Kankurou's scream)

"Did you hear that?" Sasuke asked.

"Hear what?" Sakura replied.

"Never mind. Why is your body not ready to carry children?" Sasuke asked.

"Jeez, Sasuke-kun, did you even listen in the health segment of class? You are almost as bad as that monster Naruto-baka. While at thirteen nearly fourteen, my body would be damaged by both carrying a child and then giving birth, I might even die giving birth. And with most of the girls in the village not wanting to be your wife I don't know what you are going to do." Sakura retorted.

"Where the hell is Ino? She was also supposed to be engaged to me. You and I are already married, but where did she disappear too?" Sasuke asked.

"She is in Suna carrying on some sort of negotiation with their council or something like that. Why they would want Ino-pig to do that is beyond me. I would be better than her at these things." Sakura said.

"Oh really?" A voice asked from behind Sakura and Sasuke. They both jumped.

"I love it when you do that Shino." Kiba said laughingly.

"So the great Uchiha is just starting his path into adulthood. Also I am here to inform you that my clan refuses to teach you any jutsu. That is the reason I was sent to speak with you. I am finished here, Kiba do you have anything to say to the traitor and his 'bitch'?" Shino said coldly.

Kiba looked annoyed for a second then burst out in laughter. "That was actually funny. The female dog in heat reference was great." Kiba replied as he continued to laugh.

Sakura brought back her fist and swung at Kiba. Kiba easily dodged the attack by leaning back. "Sakura, you should stop now as I am not Naruto and I do not take kindly to attacks, and I will not hold back." Kiba then turned to Sasuke. "Yeah, my mother also told me to tell you and the council that you guys can chew on grass if you think we are going to teach you any of our clan jutsu. You want them marry my sister. Oh wait, she said she would kill you before she would marry you. Between the two of you there is only one good thing you guys did."

Sakura looked at Kiba inquisitively. "What was that?"

"You brought Hinata-chan and Naruto together. As for you guys I am sure Naruto will have something in store for you and the jerks on the council when he gets back." Kiba replied.

"He is a demon and should have been killed years ago Kiba. Why can't you see that?" Sakura questioned angrily.

"Uzumaki Namikaze Hyuuga Naruto is not a demon. He is the son of the Fourth Hokage and thus out ranks both of you. Knowing Naruto he pulled his last punch on you didn't he? He could have killed you could he have not Uchiha Sasuke?" Shino asked.

"Maybe, but more than likely not as he is just a weakling and relied on the Kyuubi's power to stop me." Sasuke replied.

"Oh really, how many tails did Naruto use to bring the fight to a draw?" Shino asked.

"One." Sasuke replied.

"So you are telling me that Naruto only used one tail and you used level two on your curse seal? Man you are a wimp compared to Naruto." Kiba said.

"Why would you insult Sasuke-kun like that you guys?" Sakura asked.

"Simple, Naruto only used one tail, the Kyuubi has nine. So you do the math. We also do not like Sasuke. He drove away two of our friends and even now demands we give over our family jutsu to him for free. You are a thief of the highest order Uchiha Sasuke. You are even lower than your brother Itachi." Shino stated bluntly and caused Sasuke's killing intent to rise. "Do not threaten me Uchiha. You are lower than trash even in your sensei's eyes. Remember his motto? 'He who breaks the rules is trash. He who abandons his comrades is lower than trash.' You abandoned Sakura, Naruto and the entire village. The council covets your Sharingan so heavily that they failed to see what you really are. They should have locked you up and then found willing women to have them recreate the Uchiha clan. Lobotomized and used as a sperm bank should be your punishment. You are not worthy of being a shinobi."

"What do you know I am Uchiha Sasuke, the last of the loyal Uchiha of Konoha." Sasuke replied.

"Loyal? Loyal? Do you describe running away from your oath, and hurting your comrades being loyal? Oh and let's not forget you were headed to a sworn enemy. I was severely hurt trying to bring you back." Kiba said as he grabbed Sasuke by the scruff of his shirt.

"Back off dog boy." Sasuke said as his curse mark started to move from his neck to cover part of his face. "I have no compunctions about killing you right here and now."

There was a sudden buzzing and the sound of kunai being drawn.

"Cha… You're not worth it." Sasuke pulled himself free and then noticed that he was surrounded by more than two dozen ANBU.

"Uchiha-san, murder is still a punishable offense. Kiba-kun did not warrant the release of your seal. You will now come with us for breaking the Hokage's law." A female ANBU with purple hair and a cat's mask ordered Sasuke.

"Fine, lead the way. And which law did I break this time? I am sure the council will give me a pardon for this transgression too." Sasuke said smugly.

"Why Uchiha-san, the one stating that you were not to release your curse seal while you are not on a mission." The cat ANBU replied happily.

--

"Did you feel that?" Jiriaya stated to Tsunade in her office as he sat on the corner of her desk. Tsunade nodded. "We will have some visitors soon. So what is the punishment going to be for him today?"

"Well we shall see what he has been up too. We know he released his curse seal. So that he can not fall under the sway of the council I can't pull his pull his headband. That would make it easier to run as he would be a civilian. And that would give him the freedom to run whenever he wanted too."

"I could break his legs and we don't heal them so that he would have to stay." Jiriaya said jokingly.

The door opened and Danzou, Homura, and Koharu all entered.

"Ah the teme brigade. What do you old badgers want?" Jiriaya asked angrily.

"You will show respect Jiriaya." Homura ordered.

"Like the respect you gave the Fourth Hokage's son? The respect you gave the Yamanaka and Hyuuga? Because of you both of the heirs to those clans are out of the village. And even better the Bijuu we had is also gone. I follow them as best as I can, he as you have ordered has sent weekly reports to the council. What more do you want from him?" Jiriaya said as he nearly yelled in anger.

"There is no proof of Uzumaki being the son of the Fourth. So that issue is mute. As for the heirs, we have no control of what the clans do with their people." Koharu replied.

"Proof? You want proof. Tsunade-hime delivered Naruto. He is great with seals and learns jutsu like Minato. He has the same drive, hair and penchant for ramen. And to top that off you have my word, Tsunade's word, the Third's word, and a blood seal that I know he can open. What other proof do you want? You thieves. You are trying as we speak to ransack the Namikaze home to get at the jutsu stored there. I swear you guys are more of a threat to this village than Naruto in his four tailed form, possibly the Kyuubi himself." Jiriaya said angrily.

"Naruto is a Namikaze, I saw the whisker marks when he was sealed. Also I was assured by you and the council at the time that he would be well treated. The main reason you were not told was that Kushina died in childbirth and Minato died when he sealed the Kyuubi. So you guys put him in the orphanage. Do you think that Minato would seal the Kyuubi in a simple orphan? How could he trust the child to keep the demon at bay? He used his own son so that he could make sure that the Kyuubi would be restrained." Tsunade explained. "I looked over the reports, there were three other children born that day. All of them died. They were murdered by the villagers and shinobi. The only reason they found out about Naruto was there was a systematic attack on all children born that day. So who told them about the sealing?"

"I know Hiashi was not the one as he did not care either way as long as the demon was contained. The Inuzuka would never kill a child, demon or not. I could point to the Uchiha but there were also three others that would want to see either the demon dead or released as no one knew if killing the child would kill the demon. It could have just released it to continue the rampage. I know Danzou would not have minded as it would help him become Hokage. But you two have the most to gain by Naruto being shown as the container of the Kyuubi." Jiriaya said.

"Why do you think we are behind problems the child has had?" Koharu asked.

"Fugaku had little to gain from his death, the Uchiha were blamed for the arrival of Kyuubi, mostly because of Madara. Only you two had something to gain by letting the civilians know about Naruto. You could have at least told them that he was a blond. That would have save them the trouble of killing the other children and we would have had the village destroyed." Jiriaya replied.

"You think we are responsible for the deaths of people? How many people were killed by the Kyuubi?" Homura asked.

"That is not the point. How many civilians has Naruto killed?" Tsunade asked.

"None so far as we can tell. But he is the incarnation of the Kyuubi." Koharu stated.

"Really? Who do you think got me to come back and become Hokage?" Tsunade asked.

"You have told us that the boy was the one Tsunade-hime. But we do not believe you." Koharu replied.

"Why would I lie about something like that?" Tsunade asked.

"To protect the boy, he seems to have a power to corrupt those he touches." Homura answered.

"I have had it with you two. You drove someone special to me away. He is a promising shinobi and the son of our Fourth Hokage. Yet you drool all over the feet of a traitor. Naruto has given his all for this village and you push the traitor Uchiha over the loyal son of a Hokage. From what I read, you guys caused Itachi to kill the Uchiha clan. Now you want to make amends for that by giving Sasuke whatever he would want. The other clans are in near revolt. They are refusing to give him their clan jutsu. I don't blame them. Sasuke left the village, and became a missing nin. During his escape he did willfully attack and severely injure a loyal shinobi of the Leaf. He also attempted kill said shinobi. Stop me when I am wrong. Naruto fulfilled his duty and brought back the missing nin Uchiha Sasuke. In the course of said mission he used as little force as he could to bring him back. So what happens when he completes his mission successfully? Another shinobi from his team no less verbally assaults him for injuring said Uchiha. She was on his team, and the daughter of a council member." Tsunade said angrily.

Tsunade took a breath. "He was protected from this abuse by another shinobi, bless her heart. Then you attempt to kill that poor girl's heart and destroy Naruto in the process by ordering her to marry the traitor Uchiha. You are lower than low."

"He was meant to be a weapon and is unstable. As for the girl she would have been happier with Uchiha Sasuke. And our village might have had a stronger Sharingan from such a union." Homura replied.

"What are you talking about? Uchiha Sasuke is years away from producing heirs. Uzumaki Hyuuga Hinata also totally loathes Uchiha Sasuke. For his attack on Naruto at the valley of the end and because of how he treated Naruto over the course of the academy. If you wanted a better Sharingan you should have picked a different Hyuuga not the heir to the house. That would have brought the Hyuuga under Sasuke and that would have spelled certain death for the idiot. And as for Naruto being a weapon, you both really screwed that up." Tsunade stated.

"How do you see that?" Koharu asked.

"If you wanted him to be a weapon you should have made sure that he got the training that Sasuke was starting to recieve. He would have been more as you say stable and much stronger than he is now. But you thought that having him shunned would be better. You are just lucky he did not break the seal or the death of this village would have been on your heads. As it stands now you have all the blood that Naruto has shed on your hands. A Sanin would have died by now for the punishment he has received over the years." Jiriaya replied.

"That is not our concern." Koharu stated.

"Old hag, I do not see how sensei could have trusted you. I know you or Danzou ordered the deaths of the Uchiha clan. I could even prove it. Would you like me to tell a certain Uchiha?" Jiriaya angrily stated.

"You wouldn't. It would cause the boy to run to Orochimaru again. And we need him here to rebuild the Uchiha clan." Homura replied defensively.

"He leaves we lock him up and use him as a sperm donor to do that." Tsunade said with a smirk.

"And have that lazy Hatake train them in the use of the Sharingan. I think not." Koharu replied.

"Sasuke has peaked in his training for now. He is not willing to put forth any more effort in becoming stronger as he has captured all the jutsu the village will give him. Individuals are ready to revolt as they do not want to give up either personal or family jutsu to Sasuke. You remember how the clans laughed him out of the council meeting only to have him be restrained by ANBU for attacking Hiashi and Inoichi?" Tsunade asked.

"I remember it well. But the clans as well as individual were ordered by the council to give Sasuke the jutsu. So there was expected to be some resentment." Koharu replied.

"Naruto acted more responsible when he was exiled when you compare the two. Sure he played a prank but he did not attack anyone. And compared to the council Naruto is a saint." Jiriaya said as he chuckled.

"A saint? He made us look like oni. The villagers ran from us for a couple days." Danzou angrily stated.

"You deserved it for what the boy has had to endure for years. You only got a very small taste of what he has had to endure. You only had to deal with it for a couple days. He has had to deal with it for all of his life!" Tsunade yelled.

"I see we are getting nowhere. The council has requested all your personal correspondence with the boy and his 'wife' be delivered to the council. The council will then review it as there seem to be some discrepancies in his letters to the council and reports we receive from the normal missions. Also the council is requesting the same from Hyuuga Hiashi." Koharu stated.

"You also want the ones sent to Gaara in Suna?" Jiriaya asked.

"Actually we do. And we also want Yamanaka Ino returned to Konoha to assume her duties as wife of Uchiha Sasuke." Homura stated.

"Like hell I will. She is on a diplomatic mission there with the future Kazekage. She also refuses to sleep with the traitor. She told me that if he touches her she will have him charged with rape." Tsunade replied.

"Tsunade-hime, this is the will of the council." Koharu stated.

"And I am the Hokage. Ino stays put. Also I am sure that none of the clan heads were at this meeting so it is not valid and the council will not be able enforce these requests. You understand the council is close to starting a civil war in this village by pushing the wellbeing of one person and his destroyed clan above all the rest, and a traitor no less. You are creating a time bomb that will blow up in our faces." Tsunade said as the veins on her temples popped out.

"Uchiha Sasuke is the one true hope for this village and the council believes he should be your successor. He is intelligent and will be strong when the time comes." Homura stated.

"I will not name a psychotic traitor as Hokage. I would just as soon name Konohamaru than Sasuke." Tsunade stated as Jiriaya started laughing hard.

"The Uchiha were never truly loyal to Konoha. They came here for protection. Their clan would have been eventually slaughtered if they had not joined with Konoha. My grandfather forced the Uchiha to join but the other clans that joined did so willingly. Now my clan is nearly gone and you want to try to resurrect a clan that wanted war more than anything?" Jiriaya asked.

"The council has been hurting our allies. Suna, Snow, Tea, Wave, and others are very angry that the council would actually banish Naruto. He is seen as a hero in Tea, Snow and Wave, especially Wave. Jobs are going to Suna that should have gone to us because of the 'councils' brilliant idea to banish Naruto." Tsunade added.

"What is so wrong in bringing back the Uchiha?" Homura asked.

"What is wrong? We have been telling you what is wrong. Uzumaki Namikaze Hyuuga Naruto is the most loyal shinobi we had in the village. Now he is out traipsing the countryside with his wife and I hope for your sake that he is not captured by the Akatsuki. I am not sure what they want but they appear to want Naruto. And you guys have nearly delivered him into their hands." Jiriaya angrily stated.

"Well then call him back." Koharu replied.

"And what have him executed for breaking the councils will? Then have Hinata marry Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.

"Why would that be so bad?" Homura asked.

"Well… as soon as you were to start the execution you would more than likely have a revolt on your hands. I know I would be part of the group to leave Konoha taking Naruto with us. You would lose the Hyuuga, the Nara, the Yamanaka, and a good portion of the shinobi force. I am also guessing that you would lose your sitting Hokage." Jiriaya stated as Tsunade nodded. "You might also find the Uchiha dead as the group left."

"You are proposing treason Jiriaya-san. Would you like to be brought up on charges against the council?" Koharu asked.

"Bring it on. I know the only person who can match me is Tsunade-hime and while she likes to knock me around for being an idiot she would not carry out a fight for the council on this matter." Jiriaya said smiling. "As for the personal correspondence you can forget it."

There was a knock at the door. "Come in." Tsunade replied. "And here is one of the people who we are just talking about." Tsunade stated as Sasuke and Sakura walked through the door.

The ANBU closed the door behind the two genin. "So why am I not allowed to use my curse seal mark when not on missions?" Sasuke asked.

An ANBU appeared and whispered something into Tsunade's ear. Tsunade became very angry.

"What happened?" Homura asked.

"There was a confrontation with bug boy and dog boy." Sakura angrily replied.

"You should also mention that the Aburame and Inuzuka informed Sasuke that they will not be giving him their family jutsu." Tsunade stated. "According to the council you are a valuable asset so to protect this asset you are now under house arrest for the next six months. You will not be able to pee without an ANBU watching you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Cha… yeah whatever." Sasuke arrogantly responded. "So when is dobe coming back so that I can pummel him?"

"Namikaze Naruto will not be returning for at least four more years. And I am sure he will have something special for both of you when he returns." Jiriaya responded with an evil smile.

Sakura swallowed hard. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

--

"Suki… Suki…" Sokka continued to mumble as the group flew away from Kyoshi Island.

--

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter. Again my muse was having fun. This is my true bashing fic. I love to insult Sasuke in this fic, he is a true emo and we will see just how arrogant he is next Manga… lol I hope the eight tails gives him a yokai enema…

Well that is enough of my ranting. Next episode we will get to meet some new firebenders, ok they will get beat up. Naruto and Hinata learn more about bending. I hope it will not be a boring chapter but hey maybe my muse will have something neat for you. Well again I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or Naruto, or the characters in those stories

Sorry we will not be meeting King Boomy on this chapter, I had something else special in mind. We do get to meet the Fire Lord and Azula in this chapter. So I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 14 – Of love and family…

Sokka was miserable for a week after leaving Kyoshi Island. The group found out that Suki had pulled him from the fighting and told him to leave after kissing him. Sokka hoped he would see Suki again.

"We are almost to the island of the Eastern Air Temple." Aang proclaimed.

"Do you think we will find any airbenders here?" Naruto asked.

"I doubt it." Katara replied sadly.

"Why Katara?" Aang questioned with a worried look on his face.

"The firebenders were ruthless. It was said that Sosen and his troops killed all the airbenders and even most of the civilians. He also ordered the islands to be swept of humans and flying animals." Katara replied as tears ran down her face. "I'm sorry Aang." Katara wrapped her arms around a despondent Aang.

Naruto took the Appa's reins as Katara guided Aang back to the saddle.

Naruto looked at the shoreline and thought he spotted something. "Hinata-chan look over there. Do you see anything?" Naruto said as he pointed to the coast.

Hinata looked and then engaged her Byakugan. She saw several small flying bison heading for the forest and a group of people also running towards the forest. "Naruto-kun, I see some small flying bison and several people on the coast running into the forest. "

"Appa, yip, yip!" Naruto raised his voice to coax the bison to go faster towards the shore.

As they approached the shore Naruto smelled smoke and turned Appa in the direction of the wind. Appa let out a loud bellow. "I smell it too. Let's find them so you can see some of your relatives." Naruto said happily.

Aang perked at hearing the term said to Appa. "Are you saying you saw some sky bison?"

Naruto smirked. "Nope, I saw something flying, but I DO SMELL sky bison. And I mean more than one. I also smell smoke meaning either they are near a settlement or they have people tending to them.

They continued farther into the jungle and found a large clearing with bales of hay, a large fire, a few houses, and several caves nearby. Naruto landed Appa in the clearing near the fire pit.

"Hello is anybody here?" Aang yelled.

Naruto jumped down and looked at the fire pit and lit fire. "Someone is here, I can feel about twenty chakra signatures. Hinata…"

Hinata nodded and then activated her Byakugan. She then smiled. "I count thirty-five people and about twenty sky bison." Hinata boldly stated.

A large man with a shaved head and staff walks out. "Who are you and how did you come across a sky bison?" The man asked angrily.

Aang stood up in the saddle. "Appa is my friend and we have been together for a long time."

Several other people came out looking and pointing at Aang. "Is he the one? Is he an actual airbender?" Were a couple of the murmured questions from the people leaving the forest and that had entered the clearing.

"I do not know who you are, but you will release the bison now." The man demanded.

Naruto looked at him as if he was drunk. "Aang, you want to give Appa to these guys?" Naruto asked jokingly.

"Sure then they can brush and feed him and also clean Sokka's feet for us." Aang jokingly retorted.

Sokka sat up quickly. "Hey I resemble that remark, wait…"

"We will have the bison and have you as captives." The man stated.

"Not if you can't catch me." Naruto said playfully as he stood right next to the man.

"What? How? How did you get over here so fast?" The man asked.

"Hmm… let me think about that." Naruto said as he ducked as the man swung his staff. "Hey, you wanted an answer and you attack me?" Naruto angrily stated.

"You are trespassers on this island and you are not welcome. We will capture you and make sure you never reveal our location to the Fire Nation." The man said angrily as he continued to swing his staff in a useless attempt to hit Naruto.

"Chan! Stop this nonsense right now!" An elderly man ordered Chan.

Chan continued to swing at Naruto. "Why they are Fire Nation spies and want to finish off the sky bison!" Chan replied angrily.

"You idiot use your head. When was the last time a Fire Nation soldier wearing civilian clothing, have a blind woman, two people of the Water tribes and a person with arrowhead tattoos?" The older man questioned.

Chan stopped his swinging only to find his staff had suddenly become heavy. Chan turned to see Naruto standing on the staff with a huge foxy grin on his face. Naruto pointed to himself. "See, we aren't the bad guys."

"Naruto-kun be nice." Hinata scolded Naruto.

Naruto bowed to Chan. "I am sorry for what I said. Better Hinata-hime?" Naruto asked as he looked to Hinata and stepped off the staff.

Hinata nodded and smiled.

Aang jumped off Appa's saddle and floated to the ground. "How do you know they are from the water tribes? And what do you know about the tattoos?" Aang question the elder.

The elder bowed to Aang who returned the bow. "Forgive Chan, he is impatient and is still learning. I am Ran elder of this village. We are all that is left of the Air Nomads. A few of us can bend but without training we are sadly terrible at airbending. That should explain how I know about the tattoos as they were used by airbenders before the war and the culling. They have not been seen for nearly a hundred years. I would know the dress of the Southern Water Tribes anywhere, I have visited them on several occasions. What I do not know are the clothes of these two. The clothing speaks civilian but the way they carry themselves, and yes even the blind girl speaks warrior." Ran states as he bows to Katara and Sokka, who return the bow. He then bows to Hinata and Naruto who both return the bow.

"I am sorry airbender Aang, I did not know. Please accept my deepest apologies." Chan said as he kneeled down and bowed to Aang.

"Apology accepted." Aang said with a smile as several small air bison left the forest and circled Appa.

"Please come into our village and stay for a while 'Avatar'." Ran said quietly.

Aang stopped dead as he heard this and looked at Ran. "Why do you call me that?" Aang asked.

"You wear the tattoos of an airbender, you appear to be about twelve, the age at which the last Avatar was last seen and I have not heard of a new one being born amongst the Water Tribes so either the Avatar is dead or you are him. Also like I said airbenders no longer use the tattoos, they make us standout too much with firebenders around." Ran said with a chuckle.

Aang bows. "I am Aang the Avatar, please do not make a fuss over me." Aang pleaded.

"If you wish to be treated as a normal person then so be it." Ran stated, he then turned to the others. "Aang is the Avatar but wishes to be treated as one of us! Is that clear?" Ran yelled to the other villagers.

--

"Where is he uncle?" Zuko angrily asked as he continued practicing his firebending forms.

"We haven't a clue it is almost as if the waters have swallowed him up after the Kyoshi Island incident." Iroh commented as he drank some tea on the deck. "Now back to your basics. You were able to beat Commander Zhao with them but they still need work."

"Who was that guy with golden hair and the blind girl?" Zuko wondered out loud.

"My nephew is interested in girls. I am so proud of you my boy. Now back to work." Iroh smiled as he drank another sip of tea. "I love jasmine tea."

"My interest in girls in not in question it is how the girl acted. It was as if she could see. And she seemed to be worried about the boy with the golden hair. Ah!!" Zuko yelled in anger.

"What is it my nephew?" Iroh asked knowing the answer but wanting Zuko to voice it anyways.

"The boy was able to utterly humiliate me and my men. All by himself, I don't know what magic he used but he was able to create more of himself and take down my men so quickly. Also his form reminded me of the Avatar. Could there be more airbenders that great-grandfather failed to eliminate?" Zuko asked.

"That is entirely possibile as it is nearly impossible to truly wipe out an entire race of people. It would be a most evil act. I understand killing of combatants but innocents such as women and children just to make sure that there are no airbenders is an evil act." Iroh said solemnly.

"Are you questioning great-grandfather's actions?" Zuko questioned.

"I cannot question them as they are already done. I am just judging them based on what I know about life. I hope you learn this lesson my nephew. Life is balance, and yours is sorely lacking." Iroh said as he threw a small fireball that caused Zuko to fall as he became unbalanced. Iroh began to laugh. "See what I mean, you need balance. Anger can only get you so far." Iroh said as his mood changed from mirth to a stern visage.

"Right now anger is all I have uncle. It is the Avatar's fault that I have to hunt him down." Zuko replied as he fumed.

'I hope you learn the lesson before you destroy yourself from the inside my most precious nephew.' Iroh thought as he took another sip of his tea.

--

"That is amazing! You both seem to know so much more than we do with airbending." Ran commented as Naruto and Aang were having an airbending spar.

Aang was winded from the spar but Naruto continued to go through his kata as he was working on the twelfth kata of sixteen. It appeared that the village only knew the first two and were not very good at those either. Naruto and Aang took the villagers and began with each of them, thanks to Naruto's shadow clones, with the first kata from the beginning. After a couple hours about half the village was able to do basic airbending.

As the group explored the village they found that the huts were built so that they could withstand the occasional storms but they also blended into the jungle. The actual volcano had a few vents that allowed for the village to have hot springs, this also covered up the fact that they had fires and the like. The volcano had open vents with lava in it so people in passing ships would believe that the lights were just open lava vents.

Sokka seemed to put more effort into his training to push away the hurt of losing Suki. He also would seldom talk to the others any more than absolutely nessecary. This worried Katara who wanted Sokka to return to his normal jovial self. After a couple weeks the villagers were well on their way to learning airbending and a start at rebuilding the air nomads culture an way of life. Sokka softened over this time and started to crack some of his normal jokes.

Katara began to avoid Aang because she was not sure about her feelings toward the Avatar. Aang took this to mean she was angry with him and went to Naruto to try to figure out what he could do to patch their friendship.

"Sorry Aang I am considered a moron when it comes to girls or women. I chased a pink haired banshee for years only to find out she only wanted me to die or at least go away. My advice let her figure out what is going on and she will come to you. If you likes you as a friend, great, you have a dear and devoted friend." Naruto commented as Aang's heart deflated, which didn't pass Naruto unnoticed. "But if she loves you it will take time for her to sort out all the feels she has towards you. I hate to say it but your title is quite daunting."

Aang looked at Naruto with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"Like it or not, you are the Avatar, the savior of the world or so I'm told." Naruto said and he also winked at Aang. "That is quite a lot to handle. If she loves you she has to get past the title and see you for you. From what I heard you made quite the fool of yourself on Kyoshi Island."

Aang contemplated what Naruto had said and agreed. "But Naruto what do I do to get her to love me for me?"

Naruto put on a foxy grin. "You do nothing."

"Nothing? What do you mean by nothing?" Aang questioned.

Naruto chuckled. "Just what I said, 'nothing'. You need to be yourself and nothing else. You are the Avatar, but you are also Aang. Don't let your title overrule who you are." Naruto took a deep breath and sighed as he could see that Aang was still confused. "I am a jinchuuriki, the container of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but I am also Naruto. I do not let being the container be all that I am. Most of the people in my village hate me for something I could not control. In the opposite vein people love and hate you for something you could not control. So be yourself and it will all work out in the end."

"But I like, like Katara." Aang said as he blushed.

"Maybe she is not ready to be with you. You are both still young." Naruto pointed out.

"But you and Hinata are only a little older than we are and you guys are married." Aang said with a smirk.

Naruto chuckled. "You have me there, but then again you don't."

"How so?" Aang questioned.

"Hinata-chan and I have known each other for years. Also she has had a crush on me for years. There is also the fact that she accepts me for who I am and did not want to be a prize of the village. She would prefer the idiot she loves to the idol the village loves." Naruto said with a warm smile.

"For an idiot you can be smart." Aang complimented Naruto.

"Thanks I do have the occasional ray of inspiration." Naruto thanked Aang and put his hand on Aang's shoulder. "Hey even if she is not the girl for you she can teach you a lot. And if she is the girl for you, you will know her that much better. Hinata-chan and I were thrust into a situation where we had only one chance of winning and this time we won. I love her, I hope as much as she loves me. Katara loves you right now, if it be a brotherly love then so be it. If it is more than that, do not force it as Hinata-chan told me that most relationships have their ups and down. She may even have to go out with another person to see that she is in love with you. If you want it to be with her the best way you can do that is be there for her."

"Thanks Naruto, you have given me a lot to think about." Aang said with a sad face.

"Good because I was getting a headache trying to help you." Naruto joked as this made Aang smile.

Katara and Hinata walked up to the boys, Hinata wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck in a gentle hug. "Hey handsome, what did we miss?" Hinata asked as she kissed Naruto.

"Nothing much just guy talk. Aang had a few things on his mind." Naruto shot a glance at Katara, Hinata caught this but Katara did not.

"Guy stuff? I thought that only girls did that that sort of thing." Katara replied jokingly.

As the sun set Hinata laid her head on Naruto's shoulder as they lay against a log near the fire. Naruto and Hinata both wore content smiles on their faces. Aang looked at Katara and felt his cheeks warm. Katara looked at Aang, who turned to look up at the stars, and felt her cheeks warm. Katara immediately pushed this feeling down as she watched Naruto and Hinata fall asleep. She longed to have a person who would be there for her, she felt a twinge of guilt in that she was not sure if she could have feelings for Aang or not as he was the Avatar and had a destiny. As her eye lids began to feel heavy she felt something cover her legs then her hips then her chest. Katara opened her eyes to see Aang putting a blanket on her. She smiled warmly at Aang. "Thank you Aang, good night."

"Good night Katara, sweet dreams." Aang said warmly and with a blush on his cheeks. "I will wait for you, as long as it takes." Aang whispered, only to see Katara smile. Aang was not sure if she heard him or not but there was little he could do either way.

Aang walked over to Appa and lay down on Appa's tail only to see someone walking towards him. Sokka appeared to be a little angry but Aang couldn't tell why. "Hey Sokka what's up?"

Sokka plopped down Indian style in front of Aang. "What do you want from my sister?" Sokka angrily asked.

"I don't know? Why?" Aang asked confused.

"You like her don't you?" Sokka asked as his eyes bored into Aang.

Aang with a dejected look on his face turned his head and looked down. "Yes… yes I do."

Sokka sat up and had a confused look on his face. After a couple minutes of silence he spoke. "Why?"

Aang looked at Sokka but Sokka could tell that Aang's feelings were not helping him tell him what he wanted to hear. Aang took a deep breath and sighed. "Do you remember when you and Katara found me?"

"Yeah, she nearly killed us with her anger, but she did free you and Appa. She is funny that way." Sokka wore a far away smile.

"When I woke up and looked into her eyes I felt my heart skip a beat. I knew there was something special about her from the first moment I laid my eyes on her." Aang admitted.

"Well if that's how you feel, then I suppose there is nothing I can say or do that will matter. But I am warning you, don't break her heart. If you do, I don't care if you are the Avatar you will not escape my wrath. Do we have an understanding?" Sokka stated with a stern look on his face.

Aang wore a hurt look on his face as he again turned his face away and down. "I don't even know if she likes me that way. However, I am willing to wait for as long as it takes." Aang spoke as if no one was there.

Sokka sighed. "I understand, well sort of… I liked Suki and she showed me that she liked me too. If my sister doesn't work out for you I am sure there is someone else who will. Give her time right now she idolizes you as the Avatar, if she can get over that and see you for you we will know how she feels. Get some sleep bud we have some hard training tomorrow. We will also eventually need to make our way to the North Pole and the Northern Water Tribes. Good night Aang." Sokka said with a warm smile.

--

The large room was devoid of furniture other than the throne on the dais. The dais was surrounded in fire with a lone person sitting on the throne. There was also a young girl kneeling in front of the dais waiting for the man on the throne to acknowledge her.

"Azula, I have a mission for you." The man said with deep angry voice.

"Yes father, what is it that I can do for the Fire Lord?" Azula asked with an evil grin on her face as she lifted her head to look upon her father.

"It has come to my attention that the Avatar is alive and doing well. Also my brother, your uncle, and your brother, Zuko, have brought shame upon the Fire Nation yet again. I wish for you to bring your uncle and brother home and kill the Avatar and his followers. Do I make myself clear?" The Fire Lord ordered more than asked.

"Yes father I shall do so now and head out within the day. I will return our errant family members and kill the Avatar for you. Thank you father." Azula said as she stood and walked out of the room.

--

A/N: I thought I would be nice to travel off the beaten path and gave them another adventure.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry it took so long to get published but was working with my betas on this one and they helped a lot.

Thanks to Volpes and Exantos for betaing this chapter. They found some good grammar mistakes and also helped out with some dry dialog. Thanks guys for your help. Next chapter on to… I am not sure where… I will figure it out this weekend and work on the chapter. :D


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I claim only to be writing this story and any characters invented by others are not mine. For better explanation read chapter 1… :P

Sorry for the delay in this story my muse was sort of out of town on this story as it was torn between the easy route (boring too, rewrite cannon), or the hard route, write some cannon with my own stuff interspersed. I opted to write how I wanted and use cannon to enhance the story. So if this seems like cannon sorry but the next chapter will be all non-cannon as the gang head to the northern water tribes.

Chapter 15 – Omashu…

The group traveled over lightly snow covered hilly ground. Aang swept his arm and staff showing a pyramid shaped city built on a large hill. "The Earth Kingdom city of Omashu, I used to always come here to visit my friend Bumi." Aang said with pride.

Sokka and Katara's jaws were left open. Hinata giggled as Naruto smirked. "Wow… we don't have cities like this at the South Pole." Katara commented in awe.

"They have buildings here that don't melt." Sokka said as if he had never seen stone buildings before.

"Well what do you expect Sokka? I am sure it is warmer in the summer. It will get too warm to have buildings made of snow and ice." Naruto replied and chuckled.

"Shall we go or not?" Aang implored. "The fun is inside."

"Maybe we should disguise you Aang?" Katara asked hesitantly.

"Maybe you're right." Aang responded while he sighed.

"We have not had a chance to work on the 'Henge' Aang so we are going to have to use some sort of unusual disguise." Naruto pointed out.

Twenty minutes later Aang was disguised as an old man thanks to generous amounts of Appa's shedding hair. "You look like an old man Aang." Katara commented.

"Well then we should get along shouldn't we you young whipper snappers?" Aang said toying with the others.

"Here may I guide you, you beautiful young lady?" Naruto offered his arm to Hinata who giggled and took his arm.

"Okay we are the grand children of the old guy, Aang, and you, Naruto, are guiding our blind sister. Works for me…" Sokka commented with a chipper tone.

The group walked along the long winding path to Omashu. They came upon a guard arguing with a man selling cabbages. The guard put the sent the cabbage cart flying as the group watched. Aang led the group and the guard used earthbending to create a large stone to hover above Aang. "What is your business in Omashu, old man?"

"The name is Pipsipotlopsicus, Edward, the third." Aang said as he dashed right up to the guard and was in his face. "And my business is my own." Aang said as he poked the guard.

"Take it easy old timer. We are only doing our job. What is your story?" The guard asked as he looked at the others.

"Our grandfather is a little eccentric if you could not already tell. Our sister is blind and her fiancé is her guide. We wanted to see Omashu. May we enter?" Katara asked politely.

"You look like a responsible girl… so keep an eye on your grandfather." The guard stated as the gates slid aside. "Hey you!" The guard yelled at Sokka while he grabbed Aang's pack. "You are a strong boy you should carry your grandfather's pack." The guard tossed the pack at Sokka.

The group entered Omashu with no further incident.

"Told you the buildings don't melt." Naruto teased Sokka.

"I know we can make bricks from ice but they make them from stone here?" Sokka was dumbfounded.

"What do you see?" Aang asked as he spread his hands wide.

"A mail delivery system that uses earth-bending and gravity to deliver the mail." Sokka answered matter-of-factly.

Naruto smirked and Hinata began to worry. "Am I thinking what you are thinking?" Naruto asked as Hinata shook her head.

Aang looked directly into Naruto's eyes and nodded. "Gravity slide!" Both yelled as one.

Hinata put her face into her hands and shook her head. "I married a kid at heart." She then smiled warmly. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's go and get this over with. We can let the kids play then I have my happy Naruto-kun back." Katara put her hand on Hinata's shoulder to reassure her that she was not alone.

--------------------------

Twenty minutes later and near the top of the city Katara and Sokka were starting to get cold feet about using the mail system as a slide. Naruto had found a companion slide near Aang's location. "Race you down! First one there… buys lunch… Do you think they have ramen here Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked inquisitively. Hinata just shook her head and kissed Naruto affectionately.

"Ready, set, go!" Aang yelled out as Aang, Katara and Sokka took one stone sled while Naruto and Hinata took another. Both groups slid down the mail slides at breakneck speeds.

Naruto was having the time of his life, he was flying down the slide at an incredible speed and Hinata was there to enjoy it with him. Naruto noticed that a weapon sled had pulled up behind Aang and the others, and it was closing. Naruto threw a kunai and it hit in such a way that it slowed the decent of the weapon sled. Aang had already used air-bending to accelerate. Aang's sled broke through one of the turns and cascaded across a roof, through an apartment, and past a group of Earth Nation recruits in training who learned the meaning of 'expect the unexpected.' Their sled finally came to rest on a cart owned by a cabbage merchant, who yelled a soon-to-be familiar slogan 'My cabbages!'

Naruto and Hinata arrived just in time to be arrested with Aang, Katara and Sokka. Naruto and Hinata did not fight as they did not want to cause a commotion and get Aang and the others hurt.

---------------

"I demand justice! Off with their heads, one head for each head of cabbage…" The cabbage vender began to shout until Naruto looked at him and the man wet himself.

"Be quiet! The king will decide the punishment for this crime." The guard standing next to the king retorted.

An old bent over man turned and looked surveyed the group. Aang, Katara and Sokka were nervous. Naruto and Hinata just held hands and were did not seem fazed at all by the scrutiny of the king.

The king cleared his throat and began. "I have decided…." Apprehension gripped Aang and the water tribe siblings. The king began to eye them and caused their nerves to nearly break. The cabbage vendor's grin spread across his face. "We shall…" Everyone was hanging on his every word. "We shall throw them a feast. Yes, a feast!"

Everyone including Naruto and Hinata's jaws dropped to the floor. "As you wish your majesty." A guard replied and took the complaining cabbage vendor out of the hall screaming about 'justice for his cabbages'.

A table and food were assembled and setup in the throne room. Seating for six was arranged with the king at the head and Aang at the other end of the table. Aang had Katara and Hinata was next to Naruto, and Sokka next to them. "So Mr. Pipsipotlopsicus, is the food not to your liking?" The king asked as he stood, walked behind Aang and took the chicken leg off of Aang's plate. s

"I am a vegetarian." Aang answered.

The king returned to his seat and looked Aang in the eye. "Why not try it once it is rather good." The king threw the chicken leg at Aang who stopped with an airbending trick.

"It would seem that we have an air-bender among us. And not just any air-bender, we have the Avatar." The king proclaimed.

Aang stood and smiled. "You caught me, I'm the Avatar, here to save the world and ensure peace." Aang picked up the dining cloth on the table and looked under it. "No firebenders here, guess my work here is done. Omashu is safe." Aang slowly backed away as Katara and Sokka followed. Hinata and Naruto continued to eat with smirks on their faces.

"So my lord… I am sorry I didn't catch your name?" Naruto questioned the king with a smirk.

"I hadn't given it. But you may continue your question young man with the funny hair color." The king responded.

"The name is Naruto, Hyuuga Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto. You are not ready to let us go yet are you?" Naruto inquired while smiling a broad foxy grin.

The king smiled. "Nope."

"Aang come eat something you might need your strength tomorrow. I am sure the king has something planned for you." Naruto said as he pointed to the empty chair. Naruto knew something was up as he had been a prankster for years and this king did not have him fooled. He knew that he did not intend to harm Aang but maybe teach him something.

"Yes… Aang… please sit and enjoy your last meal so that you will have your strength for tomorrow. Your friend is right I intend you no harm tonight." The king motioned the others back to their seats.

"Let us go, we have done nothing to you!" Sokka pleaded.

The king picked up a piece of lettuce and put it near his mouth. "Lettuce go? (munch, munch) Why should I? But (laugh, snort) you did make a funny one. (laugh, snort) Lettuce go…" The king continued to laugh at the bad pun.

Hinata was worried but looked into Naruto's eyes and saw the mirth there. She knew that they were safe but not sure what the king was up too. Hinata continued to play the blind girl routine almost flawlessly. "Naruto-kun is there any more of the potato's and meat?" Hinata asked.

"Yes Hinata-chan there is. I put the potatoes on the left and the meat on the right. Your napkin is on the left." Naruto stated knowing she could see perfectly, but if the king was going to play game then they would also.

"Tell me young man. I know that Aang is from the Air Nomads but where are you from? I have never seen anyone with a hair color such as yours." The king inquired.

"Really?" Naruto wore a look of complete confusion upon his face. "You know… now that I think about it I haven't seen anyone with my hair color either. Guess being an orphan doesn't help much in the department of finding out your lineage." Naruto deadpanned his face with his statement.

The king began to laugh hysterically. "I guess it wouldn't. Yan…"

An older gentleman walked to the king's side. "Yes your majesty?"

"Send our guests to the chamber." The king stated which caused most of the group to take in a breath in shock.

"Which chamber? The good chamber or the bad chamber?" Han inquired.

"The newly refurbished chamber." The king replied.

"Isn't that the bad chamber?" Han asked.

"Yes… Send them to the newly refurbished chamber that was once bad." The king stated. "Except for the blind girl and the boy with golden hair, I wish to speak with them without the Avatar present."

The guards lead Aang, Sokka and Katara to a hallway where they stopped and a wall slid into the floor from earth-bending.

"Wow… pretty nice room for a jail cell." Sokka commented as all three walked into the room while the wall behind them resealed itself. The room was nicely lit with light crystals. There were three beds made and with fine linens. There were a couple air holes in the walls about a foot in diameter.

"Well he did say they were newly refurbished." Aang replied.

"We need to get out of here let's try to get Momo to get Appa." Sokka suggested as he looked at Momo who had an oversized belly. "Okay… maybe not. Momo you ate too much." Sokka scolded. Momo lay down on the bed and promptly went to sleep. "Great we can't even contact the fifteen ton bison to get us out and why do you thing he wanted to talk to Naruto and Hinata?"

"I don't know and I am a little worried. The king does not seem to be all there." Aang worriedly stated.

"Naruto and Hinata can take care of themselves. I am just worried about what the king is going to do with us." Katara commented as she bit her left thumbnail.

Aang flopped down on the bed and thought for a few seconds. "We are here now and there isn't much we can do about what is going on so I guess we make the best of the situation." Aang stated as he smiled at Katara.

Sokka looked between his sister and Aang. Finally having enough of Aang staring at the contemplating Katara he walked over to Aang. "What are your intentions toward my sister?"

Aang immediately turned bright red and crossed his hands up in defensive position in front of him. "Wha… what do you mean?" Aang asked defensively.

"You better not try anything with my sister buster." Sokka threatened as he was sent flying over Aang onto the bed on the far side.

Katara was standing behind where Sokka was standing her fist clenched and her anger spiked. "I can look after myself. So stop picking on Aang."

"Thanks Katara." Aang thanked Katara with a kind smile.

Katara's face turned from a grimace to gentleness almost immediately. "You're welcome Aang. I think we should call it a night."

"I second that motion." Sokka answered as he was still stunned from Katara's hit, sounding like a drunk.

Aang chuckled at Sokka's antics before sleep took them all.

Aang woke blurry eyed and searched the other two beds to find them empty. He woke quickly. "Katara, Sokka where are you?"

The wall opened to reveal a guard who held out his hand. "Your staff please, the king has a few tests for you."

Aang put his foot on the staff rolling in onto his foot and then using his foot to push it up to his hand. Aang with an annoyed look on his face gently tossed the staff to the guard. "Now where are my friends?"

The guard caught the staff and motioned Aang to follow. Aang and the guard met the king in the hallway. "You want to see your friends?" The king asked as Aang nodded. The king nodded as a wall slid down and revealed Katara and Sokka being held by guards. The guards were putting a rock ring on both of them. Katara's ring was red and Sokka's was light green. "The rings are made of Genemite also known as the creeping crystal. I figure it will take about six hours before they are completely covered by the crystal. I can stop it but you have to do pass several deadly tasks before I free them." The king threatened as the rings grew on the Water tribe siblings to their great surprise. Sokka and Katara attempted to remove the rings but to no avail.

"So Avatar will you do my tasks or will you let your friends die?" The king inquired from Aang.

Aang hung his head and sighed. "Okay I will do your tasks but you will then have to free my friends."

"Okay for your first task… What do you think of my outfit?" The king asked wearing the gaudiest purple robe and feather cap Aang had ever seen.

"I… think it looks nice." Aang replied with a smile as one of the guards rolled his eyes.

"You… have completed your first task, but not one of your deadly tasks." The king commented.

Aang's shoulders slumped. "Where are Naruto and Hinata?"

"They are doing their own tasks. Naruto is it? He is quite a talented young man. I like the way he thinks." The king praised Naruto.

Aang raised an eyebrow at the king's comment as they were lead to an arena. "I have lost my pet Flopsy. Please get my pet Flopsy."

Aang grimaced and jumped down into the arena. He looked around and called out "Flopsy! Here Flopsy!" His eyes came upon a long eared rabbit. "Ah I found Flopsy!" Aang yelled as he reached down to grab the rabbit. Suddenly a large ape shaped animal with goat-horns and hooves jumped down near Aang. The rabbit bolted at this and Aang called after it. "Flopsy! Wait come back!"

The rabbit finally bolted into a hole as Aang slid with his arm extended attempting to capture the bunny. "Come on Flopsy… the king wants you back." Suddenly as the large creature that followed Aang and the rabbit closed something struck Aang. He sat up and turned to the creature "Flopsy?" Aang inquired with a questioning look.

The animal stopped short and wagged its tail. It then embraced Aang and licked him. "Did you find my Flopsy?" The king inquired from above. Flopsy dropped Aang and climbed up to the king. "It that my good Flopsy?" The king called to the pet. Flopsy jumped up and then rolled head first landing on its back. The king began to scratch Flopsy's tummy and Flopsy's leg began to spasm in throws of enjoyment. "Does daddy's little boy like that?"

Aang jumped up to the platform angry. "That was one of my tests? To find your lost pet? I thought it was going to eat me." Aang scolded the king.

"Flopsy wouldn't eat anyone. He is a good boy." The king stated in a playful manner. The king's mood changed to a serious. "We have more tasks for you to complete." Small laughter was not noticed in the background.

The group then entered a cave with lot of stalactites and stalagmites. There was also a rushing waterfall, inside the waterfall was a ladder and a key on a chain. "I have lost my lunchbox key and am hungry. Get me the key." The king ordered.

"You can do it Aang." Katara cheered while most of her torso was covered in Genimite. Suddenly the cavern shook. "Aang what was that?"

The king chuckled. "That would be your friend playing with a few of my guards." The king replied as he cackled and then snorted.

Aang jumped into the cavern and ran towards the waterfall. He ran at full speed and got to the ladder. He was able to take the first rung but the water pressure was too much as he was flung from the water. He barely caught himself on a couple stone stalagmites.

"Ooh… climbing the ladder… no one has thought of that before…" The king said sarcastically.

Aang very annoyed then jumped up to the ceiling and attempted to jump into the water to capture the key, but was taken down with the flow of the water. He was then thrown out into a stone spire.

"That's it… keep diving in head first I am sure it will work eventually…" The king again commented sarcastically.

Naruto walked angrily holding a couple guards. "I beat them now give me back Hinata!" Naruto dumped the guards on the floor.

"You will have her soon enough my boy. We must wait until the Avatar can complete his challenges. And no helping." The king warned Naruto who wore an angry look.

Aang found a level place in the cavern and started to throw air bullets at the waterfall.

"Sure I am sure you can beat nature with some air… if you had years to do it maybe… time is running out Avatar." The king reminded Aang.

Aang thought he might have an idea. He climbed a spire and broke the tip off. He used the flat surface as a standing platform and launched the spike towards the waterfall. He then created a large crescent of air that over took the spire and cleared the water out of the way of the spire as it sunk into the wall above the king, key dangling just above his head. "There is your key, I hope you choke on your lunch. Now give me back my friends and give Naruto back Hinata!" Aang demanded.

The king chucked and snorted. "There is one more challenge and I will free your friends."

Everyone left the waterfall cavern only to enter a large underground battling arena with three daises. Hinata was chained and being held by several guards on the far dais. Naruto and Aang were standing in front of the king. "Now the last challenge is a dual. And as a bonus Avatar you get to pick your opponent. Naruto has to stand by me." The king said as a large man with an axe stood next to the king. "Now choose. And Naruto if you are chosen you must fight to the best of your ability or that lovely young girl over there will not survive." Naruto angered at this statement.

Aang ponders his choices. "So all I have to do is point at who I am going to fight?" 'I can't fight Naruto he is still too good and I can't endanger Hinata.' Aang thought, as he was sure his time was running out.

"Choose… but choose wisely." The King warned.

Aang's finger flowed over each of his choices. Naruto looked down and away as if in shame. The King eyed him intently for a decision. The man with the axe flexed his muscles showing how light his axe was to him. "I choose you…" Aang smiled as he pointed to the king.

The king frowned then smiled. "Wrong choice." The king spread his stance showing a solid footing. He straightened up popping his back and threw off his cloak revealing a very well endowed older man even more solidly built than the man with the axe. The axe wielder laughed as he left. "I am the most powerful earth-bender you will ever encounter, Avatar. Prepare yourself." The king warned as he shifted into a bender stance. Showing a brutish physique he moved towards Aang. "So what will it be, Avatar? Give up now and lose your friends or fight me and save them?"

Aang contemplated his situation. "Can I take the guy with the axe?"

The king smiled. "There are no 'take-backs' in my kingdom. Now prepare to fight me." The king replied and pulled a rock out of the floor they were standing on. Aang jumped off the balcony they were standing on just as a guard threw him his staff. "You might need this?" The king implied.

The king jumped down to the arena floor. Using earth-bending he pulled a couple basketball-size rocks from the ground and sent them towards Aang in crossing pattern. Aang dodged the missiles as the king produced four more and again fired them at Aang. Aang again dodged the projectiles. "Dodge and evade, is that all you air-benders know how to do?" The king taunted Aang who began to run through a couple of hand seals.

"Wind style: Great breakthrough!" Aang yelled as he created a large horizontal wind crescent that headed towards the king.

The king seeing how much power was in the attack put up a double stone barrier in front of himself both over a foot thick. The first crumbled as the second wall held. The king playfully peered out from behind his solid barrier. "Do I feel a draft? Did someone leave the window open?" The king looked seriously at Aang. "Are you hoping I will catch a cold?" The king put his foot on the wall and it fell over but rose up with gravel forming a bulge under it, he pushed it forwards and it flowed towards Aang gaining size and strength as it approached. Aang jumped as high as he could but just could not jump high enough and was struck by the avalanche of stone. Aang landed in a heap this caused Katara to gasp and Sokka to cringe. "You need to be better than that to fight the fire-benders. You act like an adept air-bender not a master like you should be. Come now, do you think the Fire lord will just stand there and let you hit him? He will be ruthless as most fire-benders are. Now get up and fight!" The king demanded as Aang rose to his feet.

Aang changed his stance and appeared to be concentrating. The king got a gleam in his eye and a smile on his face. "Good idea but you are taking too long." The king again threw several rocks at Aang who changed his stance slightly and used his right hand to send waves of air at the rocks thus diverting their trajectory away and behind Aang. "Good you are starting to think. Now can you deal with this?" The king asked as he changed his stance and showed he was making great effort. The center balcony pulled away from the wall and headed towards Aang.

Aang screamed as he saw the massive chunk of stone heading his direction. Aang began to run in a circle as the huge chunk of wall headed towards him. Aang's actions created a whirlwind and started to suck all the loose gravel and sand into the Avatar created tornado. The massive rock was grabbed out of its path and spun around the whirlwind and headed back to a surprised king. The king pushed his hands forwards at the stone and it dissolved into sand as it passed by the king to end up as a pile of sand behind the king who was grinning like a mad man. He started to laugh until he saw the stance Aang was in a water-bending stance, the king's face sank but still had a hint of a smile. "Take this!" Aang yelled as a geyser of water hit the king sending him into the wall, which he promptly sank into.

The king appeared near Aang as Aang shifted his staff to meet the threat. Aang appeared to have the king who had his hands up until a pebble hit Aang's head. Aang looked up only to see a massive chuck of the ceiling a foot or so above his head. The king smiled and snorted as he threw the rock to the side. "You fight well Avatar and with much spirit. Meet me with your friends." The king said kindly as he fell back and sunk into the ground leaving a hole the looking like his outline. The king appeared next to Katara and Sokka who by this time were nearly covered by the creeping rock.

Aang ran to the balcony and jumped up next to Katara. "Set my friends free now! I have passed all your tests!" Aang demanded.

The king back in his robe shook his head. "You have one more task left…"

"That's not fair!" Aang retorted.

"You must answer me one last question… What is my name?" The king then wandered off.

Aang looked at Naruto who was holding Hinata then at Katara and Sokka. "I've got it!" Sokka exclaimed. "He's an earth-bender, right? So his name must be Rocky… huh? What do you think?" Sokka asked Aang and Katara. Naruto and Hinata suppressed their entertainment at Sokka's expense.

"Good idea we will use that as our second choice. Aang what did you learn from each of the tests?" Katara asked.

Aang's eyes brightened and he suddenly walked out of the arena towards the throne room. "I know who he is." Aang exclaimed as he walked off. Naruto grabbed Sokka as Hinata grabbed Katara as they followed Aang into the throne chamber. "Bumi, you mad genius I missed you…" Aang said as he wrapped king Bumi in a hug.

"Ah… Aang it has been a long time hasn't it? I have so missed you my old friend." Bumi kindly exclaimed.

"Uh… crystals… suffocation…" Sokka exclaimed as his mouth was covered by the crystals.

Bumi raised his arm and pulled it suddenly back, this caused the crystals that had nearly encased Sokka and Katara to burst apart. "Genimite crystal candy, it is also known as rock candy." King Bumi explained.

"So you encased us in candy the whole time? How did it grow?" Sokka inquired.

"Don't know and don't care. So Naruto, do you want to tell him or shall I?" Bumi asked with a wicked grin on his face.

Naruto put his hands up in surrender and took a deep breath. "Your friend Bumi saw a kindred spirit in me, a prankster. He also could tell I was nearly as powerful as he was. So after they took you away he talked with Hinata-chan and myself for a few hours and we came up with a way for you to learn and become stronger at the same time. Also to convince Bumi here that you can handle yourself in a fight. Well… we came up with the challenges. I am sure you figured that out at the end." Naruto explained as Aang nodded. "We needed to know that you could fight if your back was against the wall and you did. I am sorry we had to do this."

"Don't be too mad at them Aang. It was mostly my idea. Also when you fight the Fire Lord I want you to think like a mad genius. You have good friends and companions. Learn from then and you will go a long way. Train Naruto here in the ways of the air-benders and help him accomplish his goal after he helps you with yours." Bumi stated with a proud smile.

Aang got a devilish smile on his face. "Now I have a challenge for you Bumi."

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Naruto pushed the mail delivery sled off the entrance and into the slide of the delivery system with a big grin. "Ah Hinata-chan why can't I go too?" Naruto whined.

Hinata gently took Naruto's face into her hands and kissed him deeply. "Because Naruto-kun, your place is beside me." Hinata replied as Naruto smiled and gave her an even deeper kiss as they heard Aang and Bumi screaming in delight. Katara sighed at the romantic sight of Naruto and Hinata kissing.

A few moments later a crash and a scream were heard. "Not my cabbages!!"

Katara could swear she heard Aang laughing at the bottom of the city.

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A/N: Like I said like cannon with a twist. If you think I took too much from cannon I am sorry but Bumi and the lessons learned are important to Aang's development. I am sort of taking November off for those of you who do not already know. I will write my stories sporadically as I have another project that is the National Novel Writing Month challenge. A dear Friend challenged me and I could not refuse her.

I hope you liked this chapter. See you in December.

Oh and thanks for Chewie Cookies for his help in betaing this chapter. Really good finds my friend.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I don't own any thing other than the storyline at least parts of it.

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Now be nice... please... Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 16 - Konoha loses again…

Sasuke and Sakura were now running as they had ditched the ANBU 'Root' that were following them. They had slipped outside the village and into the country side. Sakura had dyed her hair and gone to browns for an outfit. They both had ditched their hitaite back at the Uchiha compound. They did leave a note, 'Gone to find Naruto, will be back soon.' They both thought the council were idiots when Tsunade had given over responsibility to the civilian council. The number and quality of guards had dropped to near genin levels, and inept ones at that, they almost were asking for them to run away.

They at first headed towards the Land of Tea, then doubled back towards Wave and headed for the Land of Rice. They figured once they crossed the border they would be safe from Konoha. Sasuke would have left Sakura had it not been for her insistence that he take her, otherwise she would tell people where he was going. They had also injured some of the guards on their escape and didn't care, as they would have survived the injuries that the duo had inflicted.

It took nearly two days for the news of the duo's escape to reach the Hokage. To say she was livid was a very large understatement. She proceeded to berate the civilian council with 'I told you so' for over two hours. Tsunade put Sasuke into the bingo book as a C-ranked nukenin and Sakura as a D-ranked. The council forced her to make the order to capture first and kill only if necessary.

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Naruto was laughing his head off as Sokka continued his haphazard attack on Naruto. Naruto had opted from his civilian outfit to one similar to Aang's, with his favorite color orange, along with brown. Naruto appeared to be more like a monk than he had before. He wore brown pants and with an orange sash over his torso tied at the waist, he also wore an overcoat that would hide his bare chest. He wore his hair as normal but slightly shorter. Naruto chided Sokka about form and about technique. "Are you already forgetting what the Kyoshi warriors taught you?"

Sokka continued his attacks but the attacks became more directed and his form improved. "Not everyone can learn with shadow clones like you can, Naruto-chan." Sokka returned the jab.

Naruto smiled. "Much better my pupil, you are learning. Enough." Naruto called the spar to a halt. "Your form has become sloppy and you need work. Dang, I sound like Iruka sensei. Now Sokka I need to you to your kata or I am going to find you a Kyoshi warrior battle dress and make you wear it during our spars."

Sokka's face went white with this particular threat. "The makeup too?" Sokka asked as Naruto nodded.

"Hey Aang we have two more kata for me to learn. Either that or we can let Sokka cook again." Naruto teased as everyone in the camp looked at the jinchuuriki in fear.

Sokka face fell. "Hey it wasn't that bad. Naruto wasn't sick the rest of the night."

Naruto heard a groan in his mind. "Even Kyuubi didn't like it, Sokka. Now get back to your kata."

Suddenly as Momo dropped a rock on the ground there was a big boom and the ground shook.

Everyone got into a defensive stance. Momo picked up the rock and looked at it again, he figured it was nothing then dropped it, again the ground shook and there was a boom coming from the distance.

Naruto jumped into the trees. "I see a guy doing some earth bending. Wait! He has seen me and is running towards the village, sorry." Naruto called back to the group.

Everyone but Sokka shook their heads at his antics. Sokka on the other hand slapped his palm on his forehead. The group packed up quickly, left Appa and Momo near the edge of the forest while the group headed into town.

"I don't know if it is such a good idea for you two to wear the colors of the air nomads." Sokka pointed out.

Naruto frowned at Sokka. "I like orange, right Hinata-chan?" Hinata just smiled and nodded not wanting to be dragged into this argument.

"I will not abandon my people to hide from the fire nation." Aang also protested.

"Ix-nay on the ire-fay ation-nay." Sokka grumbled only loud enough for the group to hear as they began to enter the town. Sokka found a flyer posted on the wall of a store. "All earth benders are to be arrested on sight.

A kid was yelling as some fire nation soldiers dragged him away. "That's him." Naruto exclaimed. "Let's follow and find out where they are taking them. Maybe we can free them!"

Sokka shook his head. "This is not our fight."

A woman who was distraught came up to Sokka. "Please help my son! He was accused of earth bending and they are taking him away!" Her eyes pleaded with him. "Okay…" Sokka replied under his breath, as the others laughed gently.

"Anybody have any ideas how we can find out where they are taking them?" Hinata asked.

"I have an idea."

The group found themselves on the mountain in front of a patrol with Naruto and Aang air bending a boulder to make it look like Katara was earth bending. The patrol arrested her and the group was able to follow them to a platform at sea where the Fire Nation had setup a refinery and were using them for refining coal and metal on the refinery. Katara makes contact with Haru the earth bender whom Naruto had spotted earlier that day and been taken to the prison.

Katara attempted to get to know Haru but he was not so giving of his friendship. His father showed great patience and leadership while dealing with the Fire Nation guards. Katara was able to gleam from the prisoners the information that they could not fight the firebenders without some form of earth. Katara came up with an idea but needed both Aang and Naruto to help her.

Katara met with the others during the night and succeeded in getting Naruto and Hinata into the ranks of the prisoners using transformations. Aang and Sokka did not like the idea but Naruto loved it. Aang did feel more at ease with Naruto and Hinata on the platform with Katara. Naruto and Hinata took to their roles quickly and were able to mingle with other prisoners rather easily. They found most had been beaten down and nearly broken. The conversation with Katara was quick and to the point. They either needed to be broken out or needed inspiration to break out.

The next day Katara made quite an inspiring speech but soon realized that the earthbenders would not follow her as they felt they could not fight on equal terms with the firebenders. Finally the warden had had enough of Katara's meddling and tried to have her arrested. The Warden turned and was hit by a lump of coal sent by Haru.

As the battle began Aang was able to send most of the coal reserves from the holding area onto the platform level. The earthbenders took this a sign to defend Haru from the attack from the Warden and a few of his guards. What ensued was total chaos which leant to the favor of the earthbenders and Aang's group. The firebenders were quickly defeated and the earthbenders took the ships back to the mainland and retook their village. Haru and his village were very grateful to Aang, Naruto, Hinata, Sokka, and especially Katara, for giving them back hope.

Naruto smiled and wrapped his arm around Katara as Hinata smiled at him. "So Katara how does it feel to be a hero?" Naruto asked as he hugged Katara and then moved back to Hinata's side.

Katara blushed. "What did I do to become a hero?"

"You stood up to an oppressive tyrant and won." Hinata explained.

"I don't understand, we would have won if it was just us fighting the Fire nation troops by ourselves." Katara countered.

Naruto nodded. "Yes that maybe true, but you were the one to inspire them to make their true freedom possible. Thanks to you they believed they could win. Without that the village would not have been freed and the prisoners would have just returned to their prison in worse condition." Naruto explained.

"Anybody tell you that you are quite smart, Naruto?" Sokka asked.

Naruto shook his head. "Nope, they kept on calling me an idiot. Well… almost everyone." Naruto smiled at Hinata as he made the last comment.

"You have your moments Naruto-kun, you have your moments on both sides." Hinata admitted.

The group then headed to the where they saw a large quantity of fighting. "Want to have some fun?" Naruto asked.

Hinata shook her head as she knew they were going to get into a bunch of trouble with what her husband was going to propose. "What are you up to, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto wore a look of innocence. "What do you mean my love?"

Katara began to shake her head as she saw a smile cross Aang's face. "We are going to get injured aren't we?" Katara whispered to Hinata.

Appa dives behind a bluff and the group dismount. "We will use this as our base of operations. I figure if we hit the Fire Nation army from the side here we could disrupt them." Naruto said as he looked at the battle between an army of firebenders and earthbenders.

Sokka looked like he was thinking then spoke up. "We are too small a group to take on several thousand troops at once but your idea of disrupting their supply chain is brilliant." Sokka raised his hand to forestall any complaints from Naruto. "You might be able to injure quite a few troops but you would be wasting chakra on them when you can let the Earth Kingdom troops work for you. We are a small group, and yes I know you can make a couple thousand clones Naruto, but that will not be enough if they turn on us. Aang is too valuable to be put on the front lines just yet. If we hit them there…" Sokka pointed to a caravan miles behind the main forces fighting. "We can hurt them more. As the main fighting is going to be intense we should focus on hitting them where it hurts, the supply train."

Aang wore a look of dejection upon his face. "You don't think I am ready for combat yet Sokka?"

Sokka shook his head. "Nope, sorry Aang old buddy. You are ready for small engagements where you can extract yourself if we start to get overwhelmed. You maybe an expert airbender but you are still learning to waterbend so we need you to learn how to do it right. Yes… yes, Katara you are a good teacher but Aang needs a master."

Katara nodded agreement. "I hate to admit it but he is right Aang. We are not ready to fight more than a hundred or so at the most. We can do more for the Earth Kingdom if we hit the back lines."

Naruto finally spoke up. "Sorry, Sokka you are right while I can create an army of clones I need to use my ninja skills and strike from the shadows and not create a huge ruckus around where I am fighting. Now let's go and hit the back lines."

The group reloaded onto Appa and moved east to the supply wagons. The group ambushed the train while it was packing up and getting ready to move. An hour later the train was burning and the whole group sported injuries. Naruto had lost his coat to being caught in between several firebenders all bending in a pattern that caught him several times. Hinata had gotten tired and took some shrapnel from an exploding cart she did not get far away enough before the explosive tag blew up. Katara had some mild burns as she was running intercept for Aang and Sokka who were along with Naruto bringing the guards out and away from the carts. Naruto had left some clones to hide their eventual escape.

"Hey Sokka, I am glad you talked me out of hitting the flank of the army. We are definitely not ready for a standing fight. We have thus far only ambushed and not had too many standup fights like this. I know I learned a lot about how to and how not to fight Fire Nation soldiers." Naruto commented.

"Sokka also has his moments." Katara teased Sokka who just wiped the grime from his face as they flew away from the battle area. A couple hours later they landed near a waterfall and proceeded to wash themselves in the cold water as it was still a few weeks until the winter solstice and the water was quite cold.

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"So you have finally come, Sasuke-kun? And who is your companion?" Orochimaru asked.

Sasuke looked at the bandaged man with disdain. "I am here to learn, now train me."

Kabuto leaned into Sasuke so that Sakura and Sasuke could both hear him. "That is Orochimaru-sama and I wouldn't try to aggravate him." Kabuto warned.

Sakura bowed. "I am Haruno Sakura, Orochimaru-sama."

"Ah, so the little bird has some courage and can speak. It is a pleasure to meet you Sakura-chan." Orochimaru replied as his tongue came out of his mouth and licked his lips, Sakura was inwardly disgusted by this display. "You will become Kabuto's apprentice. Now both of you leave and we will begin your training tomorrow."

Sakura bowed, then followed an annoyed Sasuke and a weary Kabuto.

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The gang flew over a blackened patch of forest and landed. They landed to inspect the damage. Aang seem depressed as he saw the devastation, the ground was ash and the trees were burnt to a crisp. Sokka noticed tracks on the ground. "Fire Nation! I am beginning to hate those guys, what are they doing destroying a forest?" Sokka yelled as Katara and Hinata both shushed him. "What?"

Both Hinata and Katara pointed at Aang who collapsed to his knees and began to sift through the remaining ash. "I don't get it. I just wish…"

"What do you wish Aang-kun?" Hinata asked as she knelt beside Aang.

Naruto dug something up and tossed it to Katara with a grin on his face. She caught the item and understood when she looked at it.

"I just don't understand how anyone could do this and how could I let this happen?" Aang's words rang with self-doubt.

"Aang-kun, you didn't let this happen, it has nothing to do with you." Hinata attempted to reassure Aang.

"Yes it does, I am the Avatar and it is my job to protect nature. I just wish I had a teacher to help me with this." Aang replied.

"That is why we are headed to the North Pole to get you a teacher." Katara stated.

Aang turned to Katara. "That is for waterbending, I need one for being the Avatar. Monk Giatzo told me that Avatar Roku would be my guide but I haven't been able to figure out how to contact him. I just wish there was a way to contact him." Aang complained as something suddenly hit him in the head and then dropped into his hand. "What was that for?"

Katara smiled at Aang. "Look at it." Aang noticed it was an acorn. "It's an acorn, those are all over the place and eventually they will grow into mighty oak trees."

Naruto chuckled. "If I had the Mokuton ability I could speed the process up." Naruto stated as Hinata nodded agreement.

Aang nodded as he understood that Naruto wanted to help. The group noticed a presence a moment before he spoke. "You must be the Avatar. Can you help our village? People have been coming up missing as a spirit keeps on attacking each evening." The man questioned.

Aang nodded as the group followed the man to a battered village. They heard a story of a spirit running rampage over the village to take a single person each night. As evening approached Naruto and Aang both thought they could figure out this with the help of Kyuubi or possibly Aang's Avatar powers.

As the sun set a growth of bamboo covered the entrance to the village, a large six limbed black and white creature appeared from the bamboo forest. Naruto immediately ran towards the creature with Kyuubi red chakra evident. "Why are you attacking this village?" Naruto yelled as Aang came up beside Naruto. A powerful white light that emanated from the creature's mouth struck both of them. Both Naruto and Aang were gone and the creature left.

Aang was standing in front of a panda as it walked away, Aang ran after the panda as it entered the bamboo forest and both disappeared. Aang set his glider to fly and landed on his face without being able to fly. Now he noticed he could not bend and he appeared to not be corporeal. "Great now what do I do?" As if to answer his question a dragon flew up from behind him and in a fright Aang ran away from the dragon.

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Naruto noticed a panda walking away from him but also a fox the size of a horse next to him. "Kyuubi?"

The fox nodded. "Yes kit it is me, now we follow the panda to where it leads, we are in spirit form. This could prove troublesome if the seal breaks during our time in the spirit realm. Now we must follow that animal quickly to figure out what is going on." Both ran after the panda and into the bamboo forest.

Naruto began to sniff and noticed his senses were much better than before. "Hey Kyuubi why can I smell the panda now as before my senses were only a little better than normal?"

"In a way we have merged and in a way we have separated. I am more a kitsune right now than the Kyuubi as I can access only one tail and no chakra at all in this realm." The fox replied as they followed the scent of the panda to a clearing where it sat with three frightened humans.

A man pointed at Naruto. "Who or what are you?"

Naruto looked down at the stream that ran through the clearing and saw that his features had changed. He had protruding canines, blue pupils that were slits, his hair was wilder, his ears were replaced by fox ears, and finally his whisker marks were much darker and wider. "I am Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Kyuubi, my companion, we are going to try to get you out of here if we can. Has the animal hurt you in any way?" Naruto asked as they all shook their heads. "Okay has anybody tried to talk to it?" Again they shook their head. Naruto and Kyuubi walked over to the panda, which just sat there and moaned. "Why did you take these people and attack the village?"

The panda growled and roared at Naruto. Naruto looked at Kyuubi. Kyuubi barked and growled back at the panda, this continued back and forth for a good twenty minutes before it stopped.

The Kyuubi turned it head towards Naruto and began to inform him what was going on. "Well kit…" Only to be interrupted by the others.

"The fox, it's talking! And the weird one is consorting with both the beasts." One man screamed.

Naruto just sighed at the outburst. "You know about spirits, right?" Naruto asked with an annoyed voice and the man nodded. "Well the fox and panda are spirit beasts, it is just that the fox can speak both languages, so shut up and let him explain what is going on, jeez!" Naruto ordered as the man nodded his acknowledgement.

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Aang finally after running for a few minutes made it to the area that had been burned down. He stopped in front of a bear statue. The dragon stopped short and touched Aang's forehead with one of its feelers on its face. Multiple images ran through Aang's mind. "You're Roku's animal like Appa is mine." Aang exclaimed as the dragon nodded. Aang mounted the dragon and they flew towards the fire country, specifically the fire temple that honored the fire Avatars.

The dragon took Aang into the fire temple. He saw the calendar dial on the floor that showed the solstice. "I need to be here for the solstice?" Aang asked as the dragon nodded. Aang mounted the dragon again and they flew back towards the village and the statue. Aang watched as they headed directly into the statue with his body sitting on top of it. Aang screamed as they hit the statue.

He woke and figured out what he needed to do as he ran back towards the village.

The monster was waiting at the gates for him. "Haibi, you do not need to worry about the forest as it will grow back." Aang explained as he handed an acorn to Haibi. Haibi nodded and took the acorn and turned to the gates as a bamboo forest appeared Naruto, a fox and several others left the forest. The fox was pulled into Naruto as he left the forest and he collapsed a few feet from it. Hinata ran to Naruto and began to examine him.

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"Well, Sasuke ran like we thought he would, the guards will recover, thank goodness. Now…" Tsunade was explaining to Jiraiya as a toad with what appeared to be a scroll in his body appeared.

"Jiraiya… the seal is losing containment…" The toad explained as the paper of the scroll unfurled. The seal glowed bright red and released a great deal of chakra as a vortex opened in the Hokage's office and the chakra left into the vortex. The floor between the toad and the vortex was charred.

Jiraiya was heard yelling "Oh shit! This is not good."

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Hinata felt a huge chakra presence as she looked up a vortex appeared above her and Naruto. Not knowing what was going on she jumped onto Naruto and covered him with her own body. 'I will protect you my love.' Hinata thought to herself. A mass of chakra hit her in the back and passed through her into Naruto, both started to writhe in pain. Naruto was encompassed in the red chakra aura as was Hinata. Both screamed in pain as they saw Naruto transform into his Kyuubi form, red eyes with slits for pupils, elongated canines, widened whisker marks and his hair became very wild. They could tell that Hinata was also affected by the chakra, but not how.

Aang's tattoos turned white as Haibi changed from a panda back to its monstrous form and both put an energy barrier around Naruto and Hinata. As the chakra hit a peak it then passed back through Hinata and bounced off the barrier into a form. It slowly took the shape of a girl with two tails and flowing red hair. She was facing Naruto and Hinata, the girl opened her eyes, and they were blood red with slits for pupils, she reached out and touched Naruto's face and smiled. "Naruto-kun..." She whispered only loud enough for Aang to hear as he and Haibi both dropped the barrier as her body formed. Haibi returned to panda from roared softly and then went back to the bamboo forest.

"Oh, my…" Sokka said as he looked at the scene. Before him were three naked people, Naruto with Hinata covering him and a girl with red hair curled up next to the two. Sokka immediately grabbed a couple blankets and covered the threesome. "What happened, Aang?" Sokka asked as he turned to see Katara holding Aang up as he appeared to be ready to collapse.

Katara gently set Aang down and then moved to the three under the blanket. "Sokka get some clothes for them." Katara ordered as Sokka ran to Appa and grabbed some clothes from the packs. Katara's hands turned green with chakra as she examined all three through the blanket. "Hinata is currently trying to absorb chakra that seems to be putting a strain on her chakra system, without her help I can't tell any more. The girl is not quite human but has a human physiology. She is suffering from chakra exhaustion. Naruto is suffering from a similar malady as Hinata. Sokka I will need your help getting them dressed, you will not mention that you have seen any of them naked to anyone."

Sokka nodded and knelt down next to his sister. "You don't have to tell me twice as Naruto would kill me if I told him that I had seen his wife naked, same goes for Hinata and you." Sokka gulped as he observed Katara also swallowing hard.

Katara lifted the blanket and moved to the side of Naruto and Hinata. "Okay Sokka catch her and then we will begin to dress them both, then we can deal with the new girl." Sokka nodded as Katara gently pushed Hinata into Sokka's waiting hands. She was lain on her back and the first thing that either of them noticed was the burn mark on Hinata's stomach, they then looked at Naruto and saw the same mark but reversed on his stomach. "The seal was broken." Katara said with a gasp. She then examined the bodies quickly as she suppressed a blush as seeing Naruto in the buff. "Okay Sokka stop gawking at Hinata, yes she is quite developed for a girl of her age but she is married, now let's get them dressed. I will take Hinata and you take Naruto here, that way we can keep our minds on the job at hand." Sokka broke his gaze from Hinata and nodded as he and Katara switched places. They both began to dress their friends.

After that was done Aang moved over to the trio and they all looked at the girl. "Who is she?" Sokka asked.

"My guess is that she is the Kyuubi, there is no other explanation for it." Aang answered. "We should get her dressed. I would say also that we should cut some holes so that we do not hurt her tails."

"But I thought the Kyuubi was a guy, I mean male." Sokka quipped.

"Naruto and Hinata both commented that kitsune or foxes are known for their cunning and for their deception. So it may have been trying to protect itself by making us think it was male." Aang answered as they pulled the blanket off the girl and began to dress her. They made sure to make the clothing fit as good as possible. They also noticed that her ears were fox like and were on the top of her head and not the sides like everyone else. They then placed all three unconscious people into Appa's saddle. Both Hinata and the girl seemed to snuggle up to Naruto as the others put the blankets on them. "We need to go to the fire nation so that I can meet Roku." Aang explained.

"Avatar Aang, thank you for returning our missing people, we will be eternally grateful to you." The head of the village yelled up to the saddle.

"You are welcome and work on tending the forest that had been burned down Haibi will help you if he can and not cause you any more problems." Aang yelled back as Appa rose into the air. Aang directed Appa towards the Fire Nation, specifically the fire temple.

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A/N: What is going on? I am not going to tell anyone other than my betas… As for this being a slight deviation from cannon well that had to happen, I needed for Aang to understand about the spirit realm and also have him figure out what would fix it. As for the seal thing... not going to tell. I hope you liked the chapter anyways. I know I put two episodes into one chapter but it was fun that way and I changed a few things from the original.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Kyuubi? Kyuubi who?

Naruto woke and felt an empty feeling, quite a bit different than being hungry, as if he was missing something. He also noticed a pain, a pain where the seal for the Kyuubi was. He tried to move but both of his arms were pinned down. He opened his eyes slowly as he felt a breeze touch his face. At first he saw Katara and Sokka as they sat in the front of the saddle for Appa. Naruto looked left to find a familiar mop of dark blue hair, Naruto smiled as he looked to his right and was surprised to find a second mop of hair, red hair. The really surprising thing was the set of ears on top of the head, dog or fox-like. 'Wait, dog or fox-like ears. Did we pick up someone along the way that's this different? Hey you damn fox wake up!' Naruto thought inwardly. The ears twitched at his thoughts and the person groaned. Naruto then groaned inwardly, 'Great I have a guy with fox ears laying on me.'

"Did you say something Naruto-kun?" A definitely female voice came from the direction of the red hair.

"Naruto-kun? Just who are you?" Naruto asked as Katara and Sokka turned to greet their friend.

"So you have returned to the land of the living? We were worried for you there, Naruto," Sokka stated happily.

Naruto looked back down to the female that sat up and looked at him with red eyes that had slits for pupils. "I have no idea who I am. I only know you Naruto-kun, and Hinata-oneesan. I'm sorry," The girl responded in a dejected tone.

"Best we could figure is that she is Kyuubi, because there was a bright flash of red light that exited you and went through Hinata. It bounced off the barrier that Haibi and Aang erected. Then she appeared next to you. All three of you were naked as the day you were born," Sokka sighed. "I'm sorry for looking at Hinata while she was naked." Sokka admitted, and then added. "You both have scars on your stomachs, though."

Naruto's anger rose. "You looked at my wife naked?"he growled angrily.

"Hey take it easy there, Naruto! All of you had your clothes blown off! We had to dress you ourselves! Katara even saw you naked, so there! I'm sure that Hinata wouldn't be happy about that but there was nothing we could do, since Aang said we needed to get to the fire temple to meet former Avatar Roku!" Sokka replied in his defense as Katara blushed.

Naruto sighed in recognition. "Okay you're forgiven for now, but how did Kyuubi get out?" Naruto asked as he looked at the new girl.

"I'm Kyuubi? What a strange name," the girl said.

Naruto then noticed a pair of tails that wagged behind her. "Ah man! She has tails, too!" Naruto groaned as he slapped his forehead in annoyance.

"Don't you have a tail, Naruto-kun?" Kyuubi asked.

"Ah man. How am I supposed to get mad at someone so cute when she has no memory of how she affected my life?" Naruto asked nobody in particular.

Naruto lifted his hand and began to form a Rasengan, it quickly formed with fewer problems that he had before. "Wow that was easy!" Naruto exclaimed as he released the jutsu.

"What was that Naruto-kun?" Kyuubi asked.

Naruto laughed. "It was a Rasengan, a jutsu that my father made. I have never been able to do that before. Guess not having you inside of me has its perks!" Naruto commented as Kyuubi looked at him with a confused look on her face.

"Why would I be inside of you, Naruto-kun?" Kyuubi asked.

Naruto sighed. "It's a long story and apparently, you have no memory. The first thing we need to do is figure out a way to hide your tails and ears so that they don't call attention to you. I'm sure the red hair will be enough to do that," Naruto admitted.

Hinata groaned as her hand moved to her stomach. "Naruto-kun, are you all right?" she asked. She had not even opened her eyes but grimaced as she tried to sit up.

Naruto looked at Sokka and pointed at his pack. "Get me the medical jutsu scroll out of my pack," Naruto ordered as Sokka returned with the requested scroll. "Good thing I studied anatomy with you just in case I could get my chakra under control," Naruto said, then opened up the scroll and found what he was looking for. His hand flashed through several hand seals. His hand was surrounded by green chakra and he moved his hand over Hinata. "Hm… your chakra system has had a shock and is almost healed from being stretched. No chakra exhaustion, but you are suffering from mild mental strain as far as I can figure. It looks like you have scarring on your stomach, but other than that you're in good health," Naruto explained, then moved his hand over his body, a surprised look crossed his face. Then he explained his concern. "I have scarring at the site of the seal. This isn't good."

"What does that mean, Naruto-kun?" Kyuubi asked.

Naruto lifted his shirt showing burnt skin in the outline of a seal. "This is what I mean. Now will you let me scan you?" Naruto asked almost expecting Kyuubi to refuse.

"Yes, please Naruto-kun!" Kyuubi replied excitedly. Naruto began by moving his hand over her head and she quickly began to giggle. "That tickles!" Kyuubi exclaimed as she tried to keep still.

Naruto smirked. "Hinata-chan, can you take a look at her chakra coils?" Naruto asked as Hinata swallowed a pill to help alleviate the pain from a headache she had.

Hinata engaged her Byakugan and looked at the new girl. To Hinata's surprise, the Kyuubi's chakra network was even larger than Naruto's, and it extended into her tails. The chakra was red instead of the familiar blue of most people. She could also tell the chakra affinity of a person as they used jutsu. White-blue usually signified wind chakra, deep blue was for water, brown for earth, a yellowish-blue would be for lightning and a light red for fire. This girl's chakra, however, was a red-orange similar to when Naruto accessed the Kyuubi's chakra. "Naruto-kun, I think she really is the Kyuubi. Her chakra network is even larger than yours, and she has more chakra points than you do. Her chakra is also the color of Kyuubi's. Other than that, I see no injuries. She does have an unusual skull because her ears and ear bones are located near the top of her skull. The tails are connected to her chakra network and the bones in her spine and tails are set in such a way as to not impede her from lying on her back," Hinata clinically reported her findings.

Naruto nodded as he heard the information. "She is suffering from fatigue caused by her chakra coils going through quick expansion. The thing I can't understand is why am I getting a reading that she is both thousands of years old and only a few days old?" Naruto pondered out loud.

Aang spoke up at this point. "It might have to do with her being the Kyuubi being born of flesh or something like that," Aang stated boldly.

Naruto disengaged the jutsu and wore a frustrated look on his face. "I don't understand it. My control is better than it has ever been, but I also feel that my reserves are a lot greater than they used to be," Naruto proclaimed as he scratched his head.

Katara just sighed at all this information she was hearing. "Why don't we try to figure things out by asking her?" Katara suggested as she turned to Kyuubi. "Do you know what your name is?"

The girl shook her head. "All I know is Naruto-kun, and Hinata-oneesan." Kyuubi answered.

Hinata looked at Kyuubi, confused. "Why are you calling me sister?" She asked.

Kyuubi just shrugged. "It was that or okaasan," Kyuubi answered happily.

Hinata blushed at being called mother. 'That would mean either she was produced from her and Naruto or…' Hinata cut off that train of thought as she wasn't sure she wanted to go there at least not yet. "We need a name for her other and Kyuubi, if we ever get back it would be too evident and she would be attacked," Hinata stated as Kyuubi looked at her confused.

Naruto shouted out his frustration. "Ah! Why do weird things always happen to me?" Naruto complained.

Hinata cupped his face and kissed him gently. "You just attract it, Naruto-kun," Hinata answered with a smile.

Kyuubi looked at this interaction with a confused look on her face. She then cupped Naruto's face and kissed him full on the lips as everyone watched and gaped at this. She finished the kiss and looked at Hinata. "I don't see why you did that to Naruto-kun. It was pleasant, yes, but I didn't experience the pleasure that you appear to gain from it," Kyuubi stated, then turned to Naruto and asked, "Did you enjoy my kiss as much as you enjoyed Hinata-oneesan's, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at Kyuubi and didn't know how to answer the question. Sure, it was a kiss but it wasn't as good as kissing Hinata, but it wasn't as terrible as kissing Sasuke, either. Naruto sighed. "No, it wasn't as good as kissing Hinata-chan. I'm sorry I just love Hinata-chan and so I don't have those feelings towards you." Naruto answered.

Kyuubi smiled and nodded. "Good, I know I don't love you, like, yes, love no. I don't know many other things though." Kyuubi stated sadly.

Sokka moved closer to Kyuubi and looked her in the eyes. "Naruto, she has those eyes you get when you're really mad," Sokka explained.

Naruto looked directly at Sokka who flinched at the sight of Naruto's eyes. Naruto's eyes were still blue but instead of round pupils they appeared to be similar to when he went feral using the Kyuubi's chakra. "Well that is understandable. She is the Kyuubi in human form. What? Why are you staring at me Sokka?" Naruto asked, and then looked around as Katara gasped.

Hinata looked at his eyes and smiled. "Naruto-kun, your eyes, they've changed," Hinata came closer to Naruto so he could look at her eyes.

Naruto looked deeply into her eyes. "Yours have changed too! Looks like Kyuubi escaping from the seal caused more than just chakra increases in our bodies. How is your control, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked with concern laced in his voice.

Hinata began a Rasengan in her hand. The ball of chakra initially formed, but she had to put her other hand on top of the ball to help stabilize it, and it took several minutes to complete the jutsu. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. My control has gone down," Hinata apologized as Naruto embraced her in a hug.

Kyuubi moved over to Sokka and attempted to imitate what Naruto was doing to Hinata but Sokka kept on pulling away. "Hey, what are you doing? I don't need comforting." Sokka exclaimed.

Tears appeared in Kyuubi's eyes. Sokka sighed and allowed her to 'comfort' him, much to his chagrin. "Is that better, Sokka?" Kyuubi asked in an attempted comforting tone.

Sokka rolled his eyes as Katara and Aang laughed at his plight. "Yes… much better," Sokka sarcastically retorted.

Naruto's eyes lit up. "How about we call her Akemi?" Naruto asked, and then looked at Kyuubi who smiled and nodded to the name. Naruto grinned, and said, "Okay Akemi it is!"

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The trip to the Fire Temple took the group to several islands to make sure that Appa had enough food to last him. Hinata and Naruto began to train Akemi in chakra use and control. She was a natural which surprised everyone. She learned Naruto's form of transformation but she also appeared be excellent at genjutsu. Naruto made a guess that since she was a fox, she was a natural trickster, and thus might be naturally inclined to that type of jutsu. Naruto also got into working on his sealing training again as he had gotten a couple new books from Jiraiya. Naruto and Hinata didn't know what to do with the other book they received, which was a copy of 'Icha-Icha Paradise'. The sealing book they could deal with but not Kakashi's porn.

It took a week to reach their destination. Appa landed on the island about a mile away from the temple. The group moved quietly and carefully to the temple. They used chakra to walk up the walls and find the chamber they needed to get into. Naruto changed into a copy of Momo and then did a switch with Aang so that he could go into the chamber and talk to Roku. Naruto then guided the rest of the group back down to the entrance. Naruto transformed into Aang and smiled and smiled at his little trick.

Naruto walked into the main entrance and yelled, "Hey, the Avatar is here and needs guidance to the chamber so I can contact Avatar Roku!" Naruto smiled as Katara and Sokka cringed. "Think that should buy him enough time?" Naruto asked Katara as he winked at Hinata who hid with Akemi just outside the temple.

"Remind me why Katara and I are here with you," Sokka asked.

"Do you think they would chase after me alone? Also, who is going to keep Akemi entertained and out of trouble so Aang can talk to Roku?" Naruto countered.

"You do have a point. It sounds like company is coming. I suggest we run left when they start throwing fireballs," Sokka suggested with a meek smile.

Four fire temple priests came running along with a dozen guards. The lead priest stepped forward. "Halt, surrender yourself to the deference of the Fire Lord," the man stated in a pompous voice.

Naruto shook his head. "Nope, I thought you guys were here to help the Avatar. I guess you guys have failed your test of loyalty to me," Naruto stated.

"We are loyal to the Fire Lord," The man answered.

"Then you should be soldiers for the Fire Lord not temple priests. Your loyalty should be to the Avatar," Naruto retorted.

"Why should we be loyal to the Avatar? He hasn't been around for over a hundred years," The man countered.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and blushed. "Yeah, sorry about that, I sort of got held up, literally," he retorted as he continued to play his part.

"Enough of this chatter, capture the Avatar!" The man exclaimed as he threw a fireball at Naruto.

Naruto used airbending to avert the fireball to their right as the three ran left. Naruto stuck his tongue out as he ran away. The guards threw more fireballs at the fleeing teens. "Keep running, if you find any stairs take them!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Don't let them escape or get to the temple sanctuary!" The head priest yelled as all of the Fire Nation priests and soldiers chased after Naruto, Sokka, and Katara, thinking they were after Aang and his friends.

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Hinata watched Akemi begin to squirm as Naruto and the others were attacked. "That looks like fun. Can I go and play too?" Akemi asked.

Hinata just shook her head at Akemi's question. "No, Akemi-chan, you may not. Naruto-kun knows what needs to be done and doesn't want you to get hurt in your first fight," Hinata explained.

"But oneesan…." Akemi whined.

Hinata took a stern visage. "I said no, and I meant no. Now stay here and work on your chakra exercises," she ordered.

Akemi became frustrated. "Why does Naruto-kun get to have all the fun?" Akemi whined.

"What you think of as fun is actually dangerous and we do not want you to get hurt. Jeez, sometimes I think you have a worse attention span than Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered to herself.

"What was that oneesan?" Akemi asked with a smirk.

Hinata blushed embarrassment. "Nothing Akemi-chan," she stammered.

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Naruto missed a turn as he didn't pay attention to where Sokka and Katara had turned and found himself stuck in a dead end hallway. Naruto turned around only to find six Fire Nation soldiers slowly moving towards him. Naruto rolled his eyes, "Can't we talk about this?"

The soldiers shook their heads. "No. We have orders to take you in dead or alive Avatar. Preferably dead," one of the soldiers answered.

Naruto sighed. "I was afraid you were going to say that," Naruto stated as he gathered chakra and moved through a single kata, sending a huge blast of air down the corridor. This blast of air sent the soldiers flying into the wall at the end of the corridor. All of them slumped after falling to the ground. "I did ask if we could talk it over. Oh well," Naruto lectured to the unconscious soldiers, before he ran off in another direction.

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Katara and Sokka had found a staircase and hid behind the stairs as guards and priests ran by, some took the stairs, while the others continued on the same level.

Sokka looked at Katara with a worried look. "Now that we have lost them, we have also lost Naruto. What do we do now?" Sokka questioned his sister.

"He can take care of himself. He is a ninja after all," Katara answered.

Sokka shook his head. "He isn't the one I'm worried about. He has more combat experience than the two of us combined, and if we get in trouble, who will bail us out? He can always create more of himself!" Sokka ranted in a depressed tone, but suddenly his face lit up.

"Should I be afraid or happy with you looking like that?" Katara asked her brother nervously.

Sokka smiled broadly, almost reminiscent of a certain blonde, "We just need to distract them, right?" Sokka asked as he formed his hands into a seal. "Clone jutsu," Sokka whispered as a clone appeared and ran off towards the other hall.

A cry rang out, "There's one of them! Get him!" Suddenly three soldiers and two priests ran after the clone.

"That should distract them for a little bit. Let's find Naruto," Sokka stated as he grabbed his sister's hand and ran the other direction from the Fire Nation buffoons.

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"I really need to get a supply of ninja wire or have Ero-sennin send me more. I go through too much with some of these engagements and I can't replace it!" Naruto complained to no one in particular as he left another half dozen Fire Nation soldiers unconscious in the halls, but this time he tied them up to prevent them from following him anytime soon. Naruto turned the corner and saw two figures and set himself into a defensive stance only to notice one taking a waterbender stance. "Katara, Sokka, am I glad to see you guys."

Sokka smiled and let out a sigh of relief. "Where have you been? We have been looking all over the place for you!" Sokka asked expecting a quick answer.

Naruto shook his head as he began to answer. "There must be like fifty soldiers in this place. They have the upper levels locked down tight and I'm not sure we can get up there," Naruto stated as he quickly turned to a bowing Fire Temple priest.

"Then allow me to help guide you, Avatar," the priest stated humbly, and then explained. "My father and his father were loyal priests and do not like the way the others follow the Fire Lord blindly. It would be my honor to lead you to the chamber, but we have little time, so follow me and do not make a sound," the priest stated as he pulled a torch holder down to reveal a hidden passage. The four entered the passage to find the area was much hotter than the hallway. "This is the lava that keeps the temple warm in winter. The temple is riddled with secret passages that only those loyal to the Avatar know about. Come with me up to the top floor." The priest said in a helpful tone.

The man led them to a stairwell that ran up several floors and ended up in the antechamber to the main chamber for the Avatar. There was only one problem, four priests and several guards were standing outside of the door only to be complaining that they could not open the door until after the Avatar talked to Roku. The priest looked at Naruto only to see him change back to himself. "Hi, we were running interference for Aang, but thanks for helping us get here to help him, I would suggest that you go hide and leave the rest up to us," Naruto suggested as the priest just nodded and returned to the stairs and slipped away. "I will have to remember him when we come back after freeing the Fire Nation," Naruto stated to no one in particular.

A bright light began to push the door open, and the fire priests and guards prepare to fire at Aang. Suddenly, all of them were uprooted by a blast of air from the side and then a blast of air from the doorway, throwing them against the wall. A white silhouette of Avatar Roku was standing in the doorway. "I'm disappointed in you. You have betrayed the Avatar and such you are no longer trusted. The Avatar is not for one nation, nor are the priests. They are for maintaining the balance and you have disrupted that balance. For that you will pay the price!" Roku said, then raised his hands and the fire Nation goons screamed as their hands were burnt. "You will never bend again," Roku proclaimed as the light slowly faded to reveal a tired looking Aang.

Katara was there to catch him as he fell over from exhaustion. "Did you get the information you needed?" Katara asked as Aang nodded.

"Hate to spoil the party but we have to go. I could take them all on but we want as little fanfare as possible so we can be on our way. Okay out the window!" Naruto shouted as he jumped out the window.

Sokka looked at Katara and shrugged as he too jumped out the window. Katara set Aang on the windowsill only to have him pulled up as she climbed out the window. Naruto held Aang as they climbed the walls. When they reached the top they found Hinata, Akemi, Momo, and Appa on the roof ready to leave. As soon as they all were aboard, Appa took off and headed towards the Earth kingdom.

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Akemi slept on the side of the saddle with her tails wrapped around her. Sokka watched in morbid or at least weird fascination at the girl. "How can she do that?" he asked curiously.

"She has tails," Aang answered in a cheery voice.

"No, that isn't what I mean, but that is interesting too. No, what I'm talking about is sleeping without having any memory of who you are," Sokka stated in a confused tone.

"Well you can either worry yourself to death or just deal with it, I think she is just dealing with it because she doesn't know where to start asking the questions," Naruto stated as if knowing.

Hinata smiled warmly at the girl. "She is doing her best with a trying situation. She doesn't know what is going on other than she knows Naruto-kun and myself. I know she isn't lying I could tell from how she was holding herself!" Hinata proclaimed.

"How do you know that?" Sokka asked.

Hinata pointed to her eyes. "The Hyuuga have prided themselves on these eyes. For years we have been able to see the subtle things, especially if someone is lying to us," Hinata stated emphatically.

"But she isn't even human." Sokka states as he pointed with both of his hand.

Hinata and Naruto's faces became dark. "She is as human as we are. She just has some accessories," Naruto stated in an angry tone.

Sokka swallowed hard as he knew he would lose this argument, and he put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, you win. I apologize for my statement," Sokka replied with a sigh.

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Azula was not pleased, not pleased at all. She had made best time to get to the Fire Temple but was beaten by both her brother, who had already come and left, and by the Avatar and his party. She now was looking down on the fire priests with anger in her eyes. "You mean to tell me that the Avatar and his party were able to fool all of you? A company of a hundred soldiers and a dozen or so priests?" Azula asked and raised her hand to stop any answers from those who prostrated themselves before her, and muttered. "I don't want to hear it. You can send your apologies to my father for failing him."

"Yes princess." The head priest whimpered out as Azula turned and walked out of the temple.

Azula looked at her bodyguard. "Remind me why no one has captured the Avatar, yet?" she asked.

"The Avatar has seemed to have gotten a very strong ally. He has decimated several companies of full benders all by himself," The man answered quickly.

"And do we have any description of this ally?" Azula questioned.

"Yes. The Avatar is accompanied by two teens from the water tribes, and another couple from places unknown. The male has golden hair and is quite powerful. He is the one who keeps on taking down our troops. Only a few have died from his attacks. The other is said to be blind girl who can disable anybody who gets close to her. As a team they appear unbeatable. Latest intelligence comes from your brother in that the boy is also an airbender like the Avatar," The man reported.

Azula nodded the man's report. "So we will head back home to pick up a couple of people I will need to help us with this hunt," Azula stated with an evil smile on her face.

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A/N: Well here is the latest chapter, hope you liked it. I know I seem to be in a filler mood but next chapter will be 'Play with fire and you WILL get burned…' And, yes, Aang will burn Katara, so don't ask… I'm following cannon for Avatar as a guide, as it is a really good story on its own. I will be working with cannon as I see fit and changing what I like. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I own neither Avatar: the last Air bender or Naruto….

Enjoy the chapter…

Chapter 18 – Alone time… and new troubles…

Naruto, Hinata and Akemi bid Aang, Katara, Sokka, Appa and Momo a parting wave, as they headed into the forest. Naruto and Hinata knew they had to spend some time with Akemi and help her figure out what was going on if at all possible. Naruto figured anything less than twenty Fire Nation soldiers wouldn't be any trouble for the others and fixing Akemi, if nothing else with manners and actual skills was a requirement. Sokka had continually complained about Akemi wanting to roam around naked. Naruto and Hinata just chuckled at his discomfort.

Naruto figured that part of her problem was that she, a thousand plus year old demon had been forced into a form she was unfamiliar with and thus lost her memory because of the seal. She was all power and little control, like a fire without someone to tend it.

Naruto sighed, as he knew this would cause him a headache in the end, but sat down and said, "We need to work on meditation Akemi, then chakra control. After that we can work on some basics with both bending and jutsu."

This seemed to calm the redhead quickly, as she sat next to Naruto, as Hinata began to fix a stew. "So niisan? What do I do when I can achieve inner-peace?" she asked with a smirk.

Naruto chuckled internally, as he knew she was nearly as wild as he was, and finding inner-peace would be a long journey, but with help and support she would make it. Naruto also chuckled at Akemi, as she had chucked her clothes, as soon as she was out of sight of Sokka. "Today's lesson is on the reason we wear clothes, and inner-peace is reached not by fiddling with your hair, but by looking into yourself and finding if you can see what is right and what is wrong, and knowing what to do at the right time," he explained.

Akemi nodded hard, as her breasts jiggled at her actions. Naruto could only roll his eyes at this, as seeing her naked didn't bring up any sexual or desire in his eyes, as that was reserved for Hinata and Hinata alone. He did understand why the sight would bring Sokka to his knees, she was a pretty young girl with well defined proportions, modest breasts, nicely defined hips, and fine red hair where it should be for a post-pubescent girl of around fourteen, the tails and ears didn't hurt her cuteness at all. 'Now if I can only get her to wear clothes and understand what she does to Sokka, and any other possible boys we might have in this group we might be able to not have them distracted by her," he thought to himself.

Akemi's breathing slowed, as she entered a calm state and red chakra formed around her, there was no evil intent or malevolence coming off of the girl at all. This chakra was different from when she had been sealed within Naruto. There had always been an evil tinge to the chakra, now there was nothing, just pure power.

----------

Sokka was now sure he was going to have to eat his words, as they walked straight into a Fire Nation soldier encampment, with about thirty soldiers, and just after Sokka had said his instincts were great. "Guess my instincts aren't always right?" he said quietly, as the trio got into fighting stances.

A fire nation soldier threw a fireball behind the trio to prevent their escape, little did he know that the three were going to fight them anyways, and would have help from an unexpected source.

As Sokka began to fight and disable a couple of the fire nation soldiers, a boy appeared and began to both attack and disable the soldiers. Sokka and this new kid began a contest to see who could disable the most, while Aang and Katara used bending to disable some of the other soldiers. Sokka began to get angrier and angrier, as the new kid kept on attacking his targets while Sokka had to cover his back, and do mostly defensive maneuvers. Several others showed up and help finish driving off the soldiers.

The boy walked over to Katara, who blushed, as his eyes traversed her body from feet to head. He cocked his head back, put a sword on his shoulder, and asked, "Hey, my names Jet, and the lovely one would be?"

Katara clasped her hands in front of her chest, blushed and began to slide her foot along the ground like a shy girl. "My name is Katara…" she said in a wistful tone.

"Nice name…" he replied with a big grin. This made Katara feel weak in the knees, and Aang began to look at her funny.

Sokka looked angrily at Jet, and said, "She's my sister, so keep away."

Jet smiled at hearing this tidbit of information. "Your sister, huh? I could live with that," he said, as Katara sighed audibly. He turned to his companions, and said, "These are my freedom fighters."

Katara pointed to Aang and said, "He's Aang, the Avatar."

Jet looked visibly impressed, and said, "That was some impressive bending you two were doing back there." He then began to introduce his people. He pointed to a bow with a bow in the trees and said, "He's Longshot." He then turned to a small child with face paint, "That's Smellerbee." He turned to the final pair and said, "That's 'The Duke, and Pipsqueek."

Aang began to laugh, looked at the smallest of the pair, and said, "Pipsqueek, that's a funny name."

The larger man looked annoyed at Aang's comment, and asked, "You think my name is funny?"

Aang continued to laugh and replied, "It's hilarious!?"

The man looked annoyed for a second then a smile cracked on his face and he began to laugh, "You're right, it is funny!"

Katara sighed in relief, as Aang had avoided making the giant of a man angry with him.

The group rummaged through the supplies and took them back to the rebel's tree fortress.

-------------

Naruto read the scroll again, not believing it.

_Naruto,_

_Ino-chan and I are to be married upon my sixteenth birthday. She and her father have accepted my proposal. Thank you for guiding her to my side, she in a way reminds me of you. Does that sound weird? While she likes to spend a lot of time shopping, without buying much, I really enjoy spending time with her. Tsunade has authorized her change from Konoha shinobi to a Suna Shinobi. Temari is currently training her to be 'a real kunoichi,' as opposed to the weak ones Konoha seemed to have produced during your class. She also is currently dating your friend, Shikamaru, I believe, the one who keeps saying 'troublesome'. Temari seems happy with him, but she complains that he is very lazy, and it takes more work to get him to do something than it is do it herself. _

_Ino-chan says 'hi' to both of you and hopes that you will come back soon, as do I. Azuma-san and Choji-san also send their regards, Choji also seems to have been taken by a new genin here in Suna by the name of Matsuri, he is working with her to get over her fear of weapons, as her parents were killed right in front of her. Kankuro seems to want nothing more than to aggravate the female population, as he knows just what not to say at the right time. Currently no female in Suna will even get close to him. _

_Again thank you for changing my life so much, when we fought during the invasion you showed me there was another way and I'm striving to be as good as you are. _

_Your friend as always,_

_Gaara of the Dessert, Godaime Kazekage designate._

Naruto smiled broadly at the letter, and thought, 'So he is going to make it first. I'm happy for him.'

Hinata wrapped her arm around Naruto and gently kissed him on the lips, and asked, "Good news, I hope?"

Naruto nodded, and said, "Looks like Gaara and Ino are going to follow us into being married, along with Choji and Shikamaru not that far behind. Gaara is also set to be the next Kazekage."

Hinata smiled warmly at her husband, and said, "I'm glad for him. He and Ino deserve some happiness. So we need to work on the jutsu that everyone sent us so we don't end up relying on bending as our only form of attack and defense, Akatsuki will be waiting for the both of you." She looked at him then turned to look at the sleeping form of Akemi, as she smiled warmly at the girl she considered a daughter of sorts, if not a sister.

-------

"So you want me to do some scouting after what you did to that old man?" Sokka asked with a scowl written across his face. He sighed and then said, "Okay I'll do it, but Katara and Aang need to know about your attack on that old man, whether he was an assassin or not."

Jet nodded, as if he heard Sokka's complaint, but continued, "Pipsqueek and Smellerbee will accompany you."

--------

"Aang where is Sokka, I'm worried with how he seems to have a problem with Jet," Katara said in a worried tone.

Aang opened his mouth only to hear a voice behind him. "I sent him off on a scouting mission. We heard that another patrol of Fire Nation troops were headed this way. I do have some work for you two, if you could," he asked in a voice that caused Aang to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "We could use your bending ability to stop the Fire Nation in this area for a long time."

Aang shrugged his shoulders, as Katara nodded, and the trio left the room.

-------

Naruto was panting, as he surveyed the destruction. He had just used an 'Air Bullet' jutsu that Gaara had given them and he had just destroyed six trees in a row. The first was totally destroyed, splinters really. The second and third just fell over missing a five foot section, and the last all had a hole going through them. Naruto knew that this jutsu if used at this power level would kill lots of people or even worse hurt allies if there were trees around and he knocked them over.

He then looked over at Akemi and then at the grin on her face, he then looked out at the destruction she had wrought. Her jutsu had literally destroyed an acre of forest. "Akemi-chan, could you have used a little less chakra?" he asked, as he tried to make a point.

Akemi got angry and replied, "Hmph… What do you mean Naruto-kun? You destroyed several trees, and I only destroyed a few more."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the temper tantrum she was throwing. He then shook his head in frustration. "I was trying to limit the destruction, you went all out, or did you?" he asked, as she shook her head. 'Oh boy, were in trouble when we get back, she has even worse control than I do' he thought to himself.

Hinata sighed and then explained, "You see, Akemi-chan. Naruto-kun knows how much trouble he would get into for not being able to control his jutsu. Both of you have gigantic reserves and can easily level a small city on your own. If you can limit your destruction to enemies and spare the surrounding landscape it shows you to be even more powerful."

Akemi smiled and said, "I knew there was a reason I liked you, Hinata-chan. You're not like Niisan here. He can't explain things too well."

Naruto growled at Akemi, who growled back at him. The blonde and red head began to circle each other with clawed hands raised. "I've been doing this longer than you have," Naruto exclaimed.

"I heal quicker," Akemi rebutted Naruto's comment.

Hinata rolled her eyes at this. 'Having to babysit a demon in hanyo form and what is worse is that it has lost its memories. Well depending on how evil it was, it might not be so bad,' she thought to herself.

Both squared off for a fight and began to slash at each other until neither was wearing any clothes. Both wore bloody scratches and quickly healing cuts.

"You guys get to repair your own clothes. I'm not doing it," Hinata exclaimed.

Naruto and Akemi looked at each other and realized that they were naked. Being around Hinata had schooled her with a sense of what a female could acceptably show of her body and what she couldn't. She looked at Naruto and saw the state of his undress. She then looked at Hinata who was blushing and staring at Naruto longingly, for reasons she couldn't yet comprehend, but was a little put out, sort of like having someone longing after your brother. "Okay, niisan. We'll call it even, get cleaned up and find that Sokka boy and his friends," Akemi said, as she grabbed her bag and the scraps of clothing that were hers.

Naruto began to pickup his clothes only to be tackled by Hinata. Akemi watched at Hinata kissed him deeply and she could only sigh. "Please do that in your tent, not out in the open where you…" she said, but suddenly stopped when she felt the presence of others and smelled burnt leather. She immediately covered her chest and crotch with the tatters of clothing.

Hinata and Naruto stopped their make out session, since they noticed the unease in Akemi. Hinata activated her Byakugan and looked around. She noted several people in the area, all were Fire Nation soldiers. "I count twenty soldiers. How do we want to deal with them?" she asked.

A soldier stepped out and smiled perversely at Akemi. "I see we found the rapist of the area. Both of you ladies will have to come with us, for your protection," the soldier explained with a sneer.

Akemi growled at the soldier only to have to drop her protection and be caught by wires around her wrists.

"Now that is nice, for a teenage girl, wouldn't you say so, Jan?" the soldier said.

Another soldier came out of the forest with a lecherous grin on his face. "Yes, Han, she is beautiful. I'm sure she will make me a good wife. You guys can finish tying her up," Jan said a little too happily.

Akemi's face blushed from both embarrassment and anger. The only people who were supposed to see her naked were Naruto, who she thought of as a brother, Hinata, his wife and thus her sister, and Katara. Aang and Sokka had seen her naked, but also did not use that knowledge against her. These men looked worse than Sokka when he had asked to see her again. She didn't like that or this feeling.

Naruto stood and growled.

"Looks like we have a couple wild ones here and he looks like the wanted posters, the last Airbender other than the Avatar," a new soldier said while he twirled a weight on the end of a wire.

"Let her go," Naruto said in a low growl.

"Look the wild boy wants his sex toy back, all the while hiding it from the blind girl, or maybe she joins in on the fun," a fourth soldier said, as he added his commentary into the mix.

Hinata felt her side weapons pouch being opened and a couple weapons being pulled out. Naruto had pulled out a couple of shuriken and tossed them in Akemi's direction. She was able to track them, but the soldiers didn't seem to be able to. The wires that were holding Akemi and cutting her wrists suddenly snapped. She gathered her stuff and ran back to Naruto and Hinata.

-----------

Jett led Aang and Katara to a small stream that appeared to be fed by water spouts from the ground. "All we need is for you to bend the water from the spouts and fill the reservoir," he explained with a smile.

Aang and Katara complied and began to bend the water from the ground and into the stream. "Do you want us to join you at the dam when we're finished?" she asked Jet.

Jet shook his head and replied, "Nah, we can take care of things from there." Jet left the area quickly.

"So what do you think they are going to do with the extra water we're sending to the dam?" Aang asked.

"I'm sure Jet has a good reason for wanting the water," Katara said, but didn't feel as confident as she sounded.

-------------

Naruto and Akemi both finished getting dressed, while Hinata checked the last of the soldiers. "Well, you didn't kill any of them. So either you're both getting better or you're too embarrassed to fight at your full when not wearing any clothes," she explained.

"I have no problem showing my all in front of you, Hinata-chan," Naruto said, but Hinata turned bright red.

"Yeah and if there were a bunch of girls around like Katara-chan or those from another village would you parade around without clothes?" Akemi asked with a smirk.

Naruto sighed, since Akemi had painted him into a corner. "Katara has seen me naked before, so that wouldn't bother me, so long as I could get dressed afterwards. As for other girls, I trust you like a sister, so you seeing me naked means nothing. Other females are off limits if I can help it, since I'm all Hinata-chan's," he said happily, only to get a passionate kiss from Hinata.

"Isn't that what got us in trouble in the first place?" Akemi asked jokingly.

"No, it was you two fighting that got us into trouble," Hinata exclaimed. Both Naruto and Akemi had the good graces to look ashamed.

-------------

Aang and Katara came over the bluff to see an arrow hit the blasting jelly barrels in front of the dam. "No, the village will be destroyed. Can't we do anything Aang?" she asked sadly.

"They are traitors and are thus considered acceptable losses," Jet said from the background.

Katara and Aang turned to Jet anger in their eyes. "You caused the deaths of so many people, Jet. How could you?" she asked with hurt and anger evident in her voice.

Jet smiled and used his sword to block Aang's swing with his glider staff. Both were surprised when a whip made of water knocked both swords out of Jet's hands. Katara then slammed Jet against the nearest tree and froze him to the tree. "You're despicable, Jet. I'll never forgive you. You know you killed children too?" she asked with a tear streaked face.

"Acceptable losses," Jet exclaimed angrily.

"Just like your parents?," Katara asked just above a whisper.

Jet's face went pale and he turned his face away in shame. Katara and Aang left Jet to think over his deeds and contemplate his fate.

-----------

Hinata walking between Naruto and Akemi holding both of their hands and asks, "Now what have we learned?"

"Not to let our emotions get the best of us and to stop before our undergarments are destroyed," both answered in unison.

Hinata nodded at their response and giggled lightly.

Naruto noticed Sokka leading a group of people towards the receding water of the river. "Sokka what's going on?" he asked

"Just saved a village from a trap that a guy named Jet setup," Sokka replied happily.

"I'm glad, but how did you get them to believe you?" Katara asked the surprised group.

"Well they didn't at first, but the guy I saved from Jet vouched for me and because of that we luckily got everyone out of the village in time," Sokka explained. "So where is Mr. Perfect?"

"He is up on the ridge stuck to a tree," Katara said laced with venom and anger.

Naruto leaned towards Aang and asked, "So she liked him at first?"

Aang only nodded, not wanting to feel the wrath of Katara at the moment.

The group loaded up on Appa and flew off to the north. Jet watched angrily at the departing flying bison only to change his attitude when the angry villagers appeared at the bottom of the bluff.

-------

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, I was about three-quarters the way done, before I found some inspiration to finish this chapter. I don't like Jet thus this chapter was hard, and figured I would come back when my muse hit me. Sorry for the brevity of the chapter. Following cannon and adding a twist can sometime be annoying. I might go back to Konoha next chapter.

Yes Kyuubi (Akemi) sees Naruto as a brother figure and Hinata as a sister figure. She currently has no love interests. Katara and Aang will have some ups and down throughout the story similar to cannon. Yes Katara had a slight crush on Jet, hey it was cannon, so shoot them. I know it has been a while since I updated this story. So this is evidence that I haven't abandoned it. (smiles)…

Kingdark: I know and have made efforts to correct this problem.

Bloodlust002: We will see, currently I have Naruto/Aang gang overpowered right now with two airbenders, two waterbenders, two ninja, and one in training. Redeeming Azula… we shall see how the cards fall. It might happen.

I know I'm going to get flames almighty for the shortness and for some of my open plotlines, but I should eventually be able to fix them. Again sorry for the tardiness of my updates, since other things have taken my time. So for those who will abandon me for not going with their ideas, sorry, but I have a storyline to do with this one. Yes I know there are quite a few plot bunnies. I will work to fix them.


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